ALKANET • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Alkanet

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noun

Alkanet n.

(Chem.) A dyeing matter extracted from the roots of Alkanna tinctoria, which gives a fine deep red color.

(Bot.)

(a)

A boraginaceous herb (Alkanna tinctoria) yielding the dye; orchanet.

(b)

The similar plant Anchusa officinalis; bugloss; also, the American puccoon.

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Etymology of 'Alkanet'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Alkanet" Quotes from Famous Books

... even in Greek literature. There is a curious passage (its text is faulty and the translation hard) in the story of the Argonauts, where Medea concocts a magic brew. She put divers herbs in it, herbs yielding coloured juices such as safflower and alkanet, and soapwort and fleawort to give consistency or 'body' to the lye; she put in alum and blue vitriol (or sulphate of copper), and she put in blood. The magic brew was no more and no less than a dye, a red or purple dye, ...

— The Legacy of Greece • Various