[From use made of the fleshy tubers to absorb poison from wounds, especially those of poisoned arrows: see the quotations from Sir Hans Sloane, infra.]

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  1.  Bot. A plant; originally Maranta arundinacea, an endogenous herb with fleshy tuberous rhizomes, native to some, and cultivated in other, of the West Indian Isles; extended to other species of Maranta yielding similar products.

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1696.  Sloane, Catal. Plantarum Jamaica, 122. Canna Indica radice alba alexipharmaca. L’herbe aux fleches. Du Tertre. P. 90. Rochef. P. 130. An yerva que con el sumo de su rayz remedia la ponsonna de las mansanillas ponsonnosas…. Lop. de Gomara, cap. 71. hist. gen…. Cyperus longus inodorus quartus, seu radix contra venenatas sagittas. C. B. pin. P. 14?… Indian arrow root. Ibid. (1725), Voy. Madera, I. xvi. 253–4. Indian Arrow-Root [Account of its introduction].

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1788–9.  Howard, Cycl., I. 224. Indian Arrow-root is the same with the maranta. It is esteemed a sovereign remedy against the bite of wasps, and the poison of the manchineel tree.

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1858.  R. Hogg, Veg. Kingd., 786. Maranta arundinacea, Arrow-root, is a native of the West Indies.

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  2.  Comm. A pure nutritious starch, prepared from the tubers of Maranta; the name has been given commercially to starches prepared from many other plants, but since the passing of the Adulteration Act, none of these may legally be sold in Great Britain as ‘arrow-root.’

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1811.  Lond. Dispens., 402. Sago, salep, tapioca, arrowroot … are only different modifications of starch. Ibid. (1822), 541, note. Arrowroot is the pith of the Maranta arundinacea.

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1866.  Treas. Bot., 720. Other descriptions of Arrow-root are furnished by plants belonging to the following genera: Arum, Canna, Curcuma, Jatropha, Tacca. Ibid., 93. ‘English Arrow-root’ is the starch obtained from the tubers of the potato. [See also ARUM.]

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  3.  The food prepared from this starch.

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1848.  Thackeray, Van. Fair, xxxix. They smooth pillows, and make arrowroot; they get up of nights.

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  4.  attrib.

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1861.  Sala, Tw. round Clock, 192. The refreshment counter, where they sell the arrow-root cakes.

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