The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
n. A poisonous Eurasian perennial herb (Atropa belladonna) having usually solitary, nodding, purplish-brown, bell-shaped flowers and glossy black berries. Also called deadly nightshade.
n. An alkaloidal extract or tincture derived from this plant and used in medicine.
n. a plant, Atropa belladonna, having purple bell-shaped flowers and poisonous black glossy berries; deadly nightshade
n. an alkaloid extracted from this plant, sometimes used medicinally, containing atropine
the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
n. An herbaceous European plant (Atropa belladonna) with reddish bell-shaped flowers and shining black berries. The whole plant and its fruit are very poisonous, and the root and leaves are used as powerful medicinal agents. Its properties are largely due to the alkaloid atropine which it contains. Called also deadly nightshade.
n. A species of Amaryllis (Amaryllis belladonna); the belladonna lily.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
n. A plant, Atropa Belladonna, or deadly nightshade, natural order Solanaceæ, a native of central and southern Europe.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
n. an alkaloidal extract or tincture of the poisonous belladonna plant that is used medicinally
n. perennial Eurasian herb with reddish bell-shaped flowers and shining black berries; extensively grown in United States; roots and leaves yield atropine
Word Usage
"She had read about some of them in her herbology book: a substance called belladonna, which women applied to their eyes to beautify the pupils and which could lead to blindness, and another one called arsenic, which women swallowed in order to improve their skin and which was fatal in large enough doses."