BALM OF GILEAD • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Balm of gilead

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/bɑm əv gɪlˈid/ Listen

noun

Balm n.

(Bot.) An aromatic plant of the genus Melissa.

The resinous and aromatic exudation of certain trees or shrubs.

Any fragrant ointment.

Anything that heals or that mitigates pain. "Balm for each ill."

Balm cricket (Zool.), the European cicada.

Balm of Gilead (Bot.), a small evergreen African and Asiatic tree of the terebinthine family (Balsamodendron Gileadense). Its leaves yield, when bruised, a strong aromatic scent; and from this tree is obtained the balm of Gilead of the shops, or balsam of Mecca. This has a yellowish or greenish color, a warm, bitterish, aromatic taste, and a fragrant smell. It is valued as an unguent and cosmetic by the Turks. The fragrant herb Dracocephalum Canariense is familiarly called balm of Gilead, and so are the American trees, Populus balsamifera, variety candicans (balsam poplar), and Abies balsamea (balsam fir).

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Etymology of 'Balm of gilead'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Balm of gilead" Quotes from Famous Books

... at "The Runs," looked always like a picture, painted on the sky; white on gray in the morning, gray on crimson at sunset. The farmhouse of which we have spoken stood only a few rods back from the beach, and yet it had green fields on either hand; and a row of Balm of Gilead trees in front; an old and sandy road, seldom disturbed by wheels, ran between these trees and the house, and rambled down towards the light-house. Wild pea and pimpernel made this road gay; white clover and wild rose made it fragrant; and there branched off from it a lane, on which ...

— Hetty's Strange History • Anonymous

... approaching a city. Far to the left rose the blue peaks of Taif, and the mountain road, a white thread upon the nearer heights, was pointed out to me. Here I first saw the tree, or rather shrub, which bears the balm of Gilead, erst so celebrated for its tonic and stomachic properties. I told Shaykh to break off a twig, which he did heedlessly. The act was witnessed by our party with a roar of laughter, and the astounded Shaykh was warned that he had become subject to an atoning sacrifice. ...

— Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 7 • Various

... expression to characterize the nature of trench-making in that kind of terrain. Yet in that sea of slimy and infected mush men have fought for the possession of cubic feet of the mixture as if it had the qualities of Balm of Gilead—which was also logical. What appears most illogical to the outsider is sometimes most logical in war. It was a fight for mastery, and mastery is the first step in ...

— My Second Year of the War • Frederick Palmer

... should wonder what event of the day would be woven into a dream; as I performed certain acts I found myself wondering, will this appear tonight, and how? One Sunday I walked across lots to church and on the way picked a twig of balm of Gilead poplar keeping it with me through service for its fragrance. That night I dream that I am in a pasture looking for fertile fronds of the cinnamon fern which I fail to find. I see cows and am afraid.—This based on reality of a few days before.—At length by a stone I find ...

— The Journal of Abnormal Psychology - Volume 10

... which this was said, and the coy and tender side-glance that accompanied it, were balm of Gilead to the lover. ...

— Put Yourself in His Place • Charles Reade