BALM • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Balm

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/bɑm/ /bɑlm/ 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).

verb

Balm v. t. To anoint with balm, or with anything medicinal. Hence: To soothe; to mitigate. (Archaic)

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Etymology of 'Balm'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Balm" Quotes from Famous Books

... the matter?" asked Patty. "You are fuller of whims than an egg is of meat, for the egg has a breathing space if the chick wants it. Not an hour ago you were laughing like a mocking bird. You had better have a pitcher of sweet balm for your nerves. You have dissipated too much, but thank Heaven there are ...

— A Little Girl in Old Philadelphia • Amanda Minnie Douglas

... and snowing all day. The seas ran short and spitefully. It was a dismal December afternoon, and the more sensibly disgusting to us who were fresh from several weeks of the balm and glory of the tropics. And yet I would not have exchanged it for a clear fine day for all that I was ...

— The Frozen Pirate • W. Clark Russell

... talking as his wife loved to hear him talk—every quiet, low word dropping like balm upon her grieved heart; not trying to deceive her into the notion that pain is not pain, but showing her how best to bear it. At length she looked up, as if with God's help—and her husband's ...

— John Halifax, Gentleman • Dinah Maria Mulock Craik

... has raised a graceful monument to Burns, and Edinburgh has erected a noble structure to the Author of Waverley, so Glasgow will ere long raise a worthy tribute to the bard whose name will never die while Hope pours its balm through the human heart; and Aberdeen will worthily commemorate the far-famed traveller, who first inhaled the inspiration of nature amidst the clouds of Loch-nagarr, and afterwards poured the light of his ...

— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 56, Number 347, September, 1844 • Various

... break upon the blessed calm,— Deep dying melodies of even,— Those Nyack Bells; like some sweet psalm, They float along the fields of heaven. Now laden with a nameless balm, Now musical with song thou art, I tune thee by an inward charm And make ...

— See America First • Orville O. Hiestand

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