Also 5 heufrasy, 6–7 euphrasie, 7 eufrage. [ad. med.L. euphrasia (incorrectly eufragia), a. Gr. εὐφρασ-ία, lit. ‘cheerfulness,’ f. εὐφραίνειν to cheer, f. εὐ- (see EU-) + φρήν mind. Cf. Fr. eufraise.]
1. Bot. A plant, Euphrasia officinalis (N. O. Scrophulariaceæ), formerly held in high repute for its medicinal virtues in the treatment of diseases of the eye; = EYE-BRIGHT. Also fig.
c. 1475. Pict. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 787. Hec eufrasia, a heufrasy.
1503. Sheph. Kalender, xxviii. Salendin, eufrage, pimpernell.
1577. Frampton, Joyful News, 43 b. Euphrasie, otherwise called eye-bright.
1667. Milton, P. L., XI. 414. Michael … purg’d with Euphrasie and Rue The visual Nerve.
1742. Shenstone, School-mistress, xii. 100, Wks. (1795), 267. Euphrasy … That gives dim eyes to wander leagues around.
1816. Southey, Poet’s Pilgr., I. 40. Reason when the props of flesh gave way Purged as with euphrasy the mortal eye.
1865. Gosse, Land & Sea (1874), 15. The little euphrasy derives its name of eyebright … from its old reputation for ‘making old eyes young again.’
b. fig.
1838. S. Bellamy, Betrayal, II. 45. The early zephyr from the Orient breath’d And rent the curtain’d sky … The euphrasy of dawn.
1848. H. Miller, First Impr., xvii. (1861), 231. The eye purged and strengthened by the euphrasy of science.
1860. Faber, Bethlehem, vi. (1865), 353. Eyes which have been touched with the special euphrasy of heaven.
¶ 2. In pseudo-etymological sense: Fine phrasing. rare–1.
[A Gr. *εὐφρασία in this sense might have been f. εὐ- + φράζειν to speak, but it is not actually found.]
1833. Fraser’s Mag., VII. 216/2. His [Leigh Hunt’s] former volumes abounded in conceited thoughts, affected idioms, and constant attempts at euphrasy, which commonly ended in flatulence.
