strychnine. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

strychnine

SYLLABICATION:	strych·nine
PRONUNCIATION:	strknn, -nn, -nn
NOUN:	An extremely poisonous white crystalline alkaloid, C₂₁H₂₂O₂N₂, derived from nux vomica and related plants, used as a poison for rodents and other pests and topically in medicine as a stimulant for the central nervous system.
ETYMOLOGY:	French, from New Latin Strychnos, genus name, from Latin strychnon, a kind of nightshade, from Greek strukhnon.


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.