Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Aconite |
AconiteNoun1. Any of various usually poisonous plants of the genus Aconitum having tuberous roots and palmately lobed leaves and blue or white flowers. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "aconite" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1678. (references) |
Etymology: Aconite \Ac"o*nite\, noun. [Latin expression aconitum: compare to the French expression aconit.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Literature | Aconite The herb Monkshood or Wolfsbane. Classic fabulists ascribe its poisonous qualities to the foam which dropped from the mouths of the three-headed Cerbrus, when Hercules, at the command of Eurystheus, dragged the monster from the infernal regions. (Latin, aconitum.) "Lurida terribiles miscent Aconita novercæ." Ovid: Metamorphoses, i. 147. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Many species of aconite are cultivated in gardens, some having blue and others yellow flowers. Aconitum lycoctonum, wolfsbane, is a yellow-flowered species common on the Alps of Switzerland. The roots of Aconitum ferox supply the famous Indian (Nepal) poison called bikh, bish, or nabee. It contains considerable quantities of the alkaloid pseudaconitine, which is a very deadly poison. Aconitum palmatum yields another of the celebrated bikh poisons. The root of Aconitum luridum, of the Himalayas, is said to be as virulent as that of A. ferox or A. napellus. As garden plants the aconites are very ornamental, hardy perennials. They thrive well in any ordinary garden soil, and will grow beneath the shade of trees. They are easily propagated by divisions of the root or by seeds; great care should be taken not to leave pieces of the root about owing to its very poisonous character.
Aconite has been ascribed with supernatural powers relating to werewolves and other lycanthropes, either to repel them or in some way induce their lycanthropic condition.
The active principle of Aconitum napellus
is the alkaloid aconitine, first examined by P.L. Geiger and
Hesse, Alder Wright and A.B. Luff
obtained apoaconitine, aconine, and benzoic acid by hydrolysis; while, in 1802, C. Ehrenberg and A. Purfurst observed acetic acid as a hydrolytic product. This, and allied alkaloids, have formed the subject of many investigations by Wyndham Dunstan and
his pupils in England, and by Martin Freund and Paul Beck in
Berlin. But their constitution is not yet solved, there
even being some divergence of opinion as to their empirical formulae. Aconitine (C34H47NO11) is a crystalline base, soluble in alcohol, but very sparingly in water; its alcoholic solution is dextrorotatory, but its salts are levorotatory. When heated it loses water and forms pyraconitine. Hydrolysis gives acetic acid and benzaconine, the chief constituent of the alkaloids picraconitine and napelline; further hydrolysis gives aconine. Pseudaconitine, obtained from Aconitum ferox,
gives on hydrolysis acetic acid and veratrylpseudaconine, the
latter of which suffers further hydrolysis to veratric acid and
pseudaconine. Japaconitine, obtained from the Japanese
aconites, known locally as kuza-uzu, hydrolyses to
japbenzaconine, which further breaks down to benzoic acid and
japaconine. Other related alkaloids are lycaconitine and
myoctonine which occur in wolfsbane, Aconitum lycoctonum.
The usual test for solutions of aconitine consists in slight
acidulation with acetic acid and addition of potassium permanganate, which causes the formation of a red crystalline precipitate. In 1905, Dunstan and his collaborators discovered two new aconite alkaloids, indaconitine in "mohri" (Aconitum chasmanthum, Stapf), and bikhaconitine in "bikh" (Aconitum spicatum); he also proposes to classify these alkaloids according to whether they yield benzoic or veratric acid on hydrolysis.
From the root of Aconitum napellus are prepared a liniment
and a tincture. The dose of the latter is of importance as being exceptionally small, for it is not advisable to give more than at most five drops at a time. The official preparation is an ointment which contains one part of the alkaloid in fifty. It must be used with
extreme care, and in small quantities, and it must not be
used at all where cuts or cracks are present in the skin.
Chemistry
Pharmacology of Aconite and Aconitine
Aconite first stimulates and later paralyses the nerves of pain, touch and
temperature, if applied to the skin, broken or unbroken, or
to a mucous membrane; the initial tingling therefore gives
place to a long-continued anaesthetic action. Taken internally
aconite acts very notably on the circulation, the respiration
and the nervous system. The pulse is slowed, the number of
beats per minute being actually reduced, under considerable
doses, to forty, or even thirty, per minute. The blood-pressure
synchronously falls, and the heart is arrested in diastole.
Immediately before arrest the heart may beat much faster than
normally, though with extreme irregularity, and in the lower
animals the auricles may be observed occasionally to miss
a beat, as in poisoning by veratrine and colchicum. The
action of aconitine on the circulation is due to an initial
stimulation of the cardio-inhibitory centre in the medulla oblongata (at the root of the vagus nerves), and later to a directly toxic influence on the nerve-ganglia and muscular fibres of the heart itself. The fall in blood-pressure is not due to any direct influence on the vessels. The respiration becomes slower owing to a paralytic action on the respiratory centre and, in warm-blooded animals, death is due to this
action, the respiration being arrested before the action
of the heart. Aconite further depresses the activity of
all nerve-terminals, the sensory being affected before the
motor. In small doses it therefore tends to relieve pain, if
this be present. The activity of the spinal cord is similarly
depressed. The pupil is at first contracted, and afterwards
dilated. The cerebrum is totally unaffected by aconite,
consciousness and the intelligence remaining normal to the
last. The antipyretic action which considerable doses of aconite
display is not specific, but is the result of its influence on the
circulation and respiration and of its slight diaphoretic action. Therapeutics
The indications for its employment are limited, but definite. It is of undoubted value as a local anodyne in sciatica and neuralgia, especially in ordinary facial or trigeminal neuralgia. The best method of application is by rubbing in a small quantity of the aconitine ointment
until numbness is felt, but the costliness of this preparation
causes the use of the aconite liniment to be commonly resorted
to. This should be painted on the affected part with a
camel's hair brush dipped in chloroform, which facilitates the
absorption of the alkaloid. Aconite is indicated for internal
administration whenever it is desirable to depress the action
of the heart in the course of a fever. Formerly used in every
fever, and even in the septic states that constantly followed
surgical operations in the pre-Listerian epoch, aconite is
now employed only in the earliest stage of the less serious
fevers, such as acute tonsilitis, bronchitis, and, notably,
laryngitis. The extreme pain and rapid swelling of the vocal cords -- with threatened obstruction to the respiration that characterize acute laryngitis -- may often be relieved by the sedative action of this drug upon the circulation. In order to reduce the pulse to its normal rate in these cases, without at the same time lessening the power of the heart, the drug must be given in doses of about two minimss of the tincture every half-hour and then every hour until the pulse falls to the normal rate. Thereafter the drug must be discontinued. It is probably never right to give aconite in doses much larger than that named. There is one condition of the heart itself in which aconite is sometimes useful. Whilst absolutely contra-indicated in all cases of valvular disease, it is of value in cases of cardiac hypertrophy with over-action. But the practitioner must be assured that neither valvular lesion nor degeneration of the myocardium is present. Toxicology
In a few minutes after the introduction of a poisonous dose of aconite, marked symptoms supervene. The initial signs of poisoning are referable to the alimentary canal. There is a sensation of burning, tingling and numbness in the mouth, and of burning in the abdomen. Death usually supervenes before a numbing effect on the intestine can be observed. After about an hour there is severe vomiting. Much motor weakness and cutaneous sensations similar to those above described soon follow. The pulse and respiration steadily fail, death occurring from asphyxia. As in strychnine poisoning, the patient is conscious and clear-minded to the last. The only post-mortem signs are those of asphyxia. The treatment is to empty the stomach by tube or by a non-depressant emetic. The physiological antidotes are atropine and digitalin or strophanthin, which should be injected subcutaneously in maximal doses. Alcohol, strychnine, and warmth must also be employed.
Several photographs of Aconite plants can be found here, but they cannot be included in Wikipedia -- their licence requires that their copyright holder be credited.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Aconite."
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Bane | Hemlock, hellebore, nightshade, belladonna, henbane, aconite; banewort, bhang, ganja, hashish; Upas tree. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Aconite |
| English words defined with "aconite": Aconital, Aconitic, Aconitine, Aconitum napellus ♦ Cassideous ♦ Eranthis ♦ genus Eranthis ♦ helmet flower, helmetflower ♦ monkshood ♦ winter aconite. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "aconite": Aconitum. (references) |
| Domain | Title |
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Aconite" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 80.00% of the time. "Aconite" is used about 25 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 80% | 20 | 78,262 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 20% | 5 | 157,705 |
| Total | 100.00% | 25 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "aconite": winter aconite. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
aconite | 49 |
aconite belladonna inkubus sukkubus | 3 |
winter aconite | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "aconite"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Afrikaan | akoniet (monkshood). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | الأقونيطن نبات سام, البيش. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | самакитка (sweet william, wolf's bane), отрова (bane, poison, venom, virus), аконитин. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 附子 (monkshood). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | akonitrod, stormhat, jernurt (holy wort, verbena, vervain), blaa venusvogn (monkshood), blaa stormhat (monkshood). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | monnikskap (cowl, monkshood), akoniet (monkshood). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | akonito (monkshood). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | aitoukonhattu (monkshood). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | aconit. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Eisenhut (iron helmet, monk's hood, monkshood), Akonit (monkshood). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | aconitum napellus, ακόνιτον το γογγυλώδες (monkshood), ακόνιτο, ακονίτο (wolfshane). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | sisakvirág. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | aconito (monkshood). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 鳥兜 (wolfsbane). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | とりかぶと (wolfsbane). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | feoh y voddee (wolf's bane). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | aconiteay acônito (monkshood, mono). (various references) аконит (foxbane, friar's cap, monkshood, monks'-hood, wolfsbane, wolf's-bane). (various references) jedićev otrov, jedić (monkshood). (various references) acónito (monkshood). (various references) äkta stormhatt (monkshood). (various references) kurtboğan, itboğan. (various references) смертельна отрута, аконіт (monkshood). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | aconitum, Aconitum napellum, Aconitum napellus. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "aconite": aconites. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "aconite": taconite. (additional references) | |
Words containing "aconite": taconites. (additional references) | |
| |
"Aconite" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: accolite, aceite, acolite, agonite, Akhnaten, Akohito, aloxite, Aponte, aronite, asconite, Asoniti, auctoritee, basanite, cainite, Icontec, masonite. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| Words rhyming with "aconite" (pronounced 'Ac"o*nite'): Alunite, Anthraconite, Antimonite, Aphanite, Aragonite, Arragonite, Axinite, Balanite, Basanite, Belemnite, Belonite, Bornite, Caledonite, Cancrinite, Colophonite, Conite, Crinite, Cyanite, Dambonite, Ebionite, Echinite, Encrinite, Endosternite, Erinite, Eschynite, Essonite, Euxenite, Exinanite, finite, Galenite, Geocronite, Glauconite, Gymnite, Gyrogonite, Hauynite, Ichnite, indefinite, kainite, Konite, Kyannite, Lanthanite, leptynite, Liroconite, Lomonite, manganite, mannite, Maronite, Meionite, Melaconite, Melanite, Melenite, molybdenite, Munite, Necronite, Nontronite, Ornithichnite, Ornithoidichnite, Otoconite, Paragonite, Pentacrinite, Plagionite, Polianite, Polymnite, Porcelanite, Prefinite, Premunite, Protozoonite, Pycnite, Pyrolignite, Pyroxenite, Retinite, reunite, Rhodocrinite, Sagenite, Saponite, Sauroidichnite, Sienite, Sonnite, Sternite, Stibiconite, stibnite, Succinite, Sulphantimonite, Sulpharsenite, Sunnite, Syenite, Tanite, Thranite, Turbinite, uraninite, Uranite, Urosternite, Vanadinite, Vulpinite, Yenite, Zoonite. (additional references) |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-e-i-n-o-t" | |
-1 letter: acetin, action, aeonic, atonic, cation, centai, enatic, noetic, notice, octane. | |
-2 letters: actin, antic, atone, canoe, canto, cento, coati, conte, cotan, enact, entia, oaten, ocean, octan, ontic, tenia, tinea, tonic. | |
-3 letters: acne, aeon, ante, anti, cain, cane, cant, cate, cent, ciao, cine, cion, cite, coat, coin, cone, coni, cote, etic, etna, icon, into, iota, naoi, neat, nice, nite, nota, note, once, otic, tace, taco, tain, tine, toea, tone. | |
-4 letters: ace, act, ain, ait, ane, ani, ant, ate, can, cat, con, cot, eat, eon, eta, ice, ion, nae, net, nit, not, oat, oca, one, tae, tan, tao, tea, ten, tic, tie, tin, toe, ton. | |
-5 letters: ae, ai, an, at, en, et, in, it, na, ne, no, oe, on, ta, ti, to. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-e-i-n-o-t" | |
+1 letter: acetonic, aconites, anoretic, canoeist, catenoid, coinmate, conative, creation, exaction, inchoate, invocate, reaction, sonicate, taconite. | |
+2 letters: abjection, accretion, advection, affection, aitchbone, anchorite, anecdotic, anorectic, anoretics, antechoir, auctioned, autogenic, canoeists, captioned, carnotite, caseation, catenoids, cautioned, cessation, chelation, coastline, cobaltine, coinmates, contained, container, creations, cremation, crenation, diaconate, education, encomiast, evocation, exactions, fornicate, geomantic, inoculate, invocated, invocates, isooctane, manticore, melanotic, narcotize, reactions, redaction, sectional, sonicated, sonicates, taconites, tenacious. | |
+3 letters: abjections, abreaction, accretions, achondrite, actinolite, actionable, actionless, advections, aeronautic, affections, aitchbones, anchorites, anecdotist, anorectics, antechoirs, antierotic, antiheroic, antipoetic, antipolice, auctioneer, carnotites, carotenoid, caseations, catenation, cessations, chelations, chlorinate, citronella, coastlines, cobaltines, cocreating, coenacting, coequating, colemanite, concertina, conciliate, confidante, confiscate, congenital, consociate, constative, constipate, containers, continuate, contraries, coordinate, corelating, cremations, crenations, decimation, decorating, decoration, dedication, defecation, detoxicant, detraction, diaconates, educations, emaciation, encomiasts, endothecia, enunciator, eructation, escalation, evacuation, evocations, excavation, excitation, execration, extraction, fianchetto, fornicated, fornicates, fractioned, geobotanic, glauconite, hoactzines, iatrogenic, iceboating, importance, inchoately, inchoative, inoculated, inoculates, inosculate, interlocal, interocean, intoxicate, isocyanate, isooctanes, laceration, lactogenic, lectionary, maceration, manometric, manticores, medication, narcotized, narcotizes, nematocide, neoplastic, nonascetic, noncabinet, nonelastic, nonethical, noticeable, noticeably, novaculite, nucleation, occidental, octonaries, overacting, overaction, pathogenic, peculation, pentatonic, phonematic, pleonastic, pratincole, precaution, recitation, recreation, redactions, refraction, relocating, relocation, retraction, revocation, sanctioned, sectionals, speciation, theophanic, trajection, ulceration, vacationed, vacationer, vociferant, wainscoted. | |
+4 letters: abreactions, acceptation, accoutering, acetylation, achondrites, acrocentric, actinolites, actinometer, actinometry, actinomyces, aeronautics, affectation, affectional, affectioned, altercation, amylopectin, anacreontic, ancestoring, anecdotical, anecdotists, anticathode, anticyclone, antinucleon, aponeurotic, areocentric, atherogenic, auctioneers, axonometric, bacteriocin, baronetcies, benefaction, bicarbonate, bisectional, brecciation, cabinetwork, cancelation, captionless, carburetion, carotenoids, cartoonlike, catenations, celebration, cementation, centimorgan, cephalothin, ceratopsian, cerebration, chiropteran, chlorinated, chlorinates, citronellal, citronellas, coattending, coattesting, cocaptained, coeducation, coenzymatic, cofeaturing, colemanites, colinearity, combinative, communicate, concavities, concertinas, conciliated, conciliates, condimental, confidantes, confiscated, confiscates, confutative, congelation, connotative, considerate, consociated, consociates, consolidate, constancies, constatives, constipated, constipates, constrained, containable, containment, contaminate, continental, continuance, contractile, contractive, contrariety, contrastive, contrivance, contumacies, cooperating, cooperation, coordinated, coordinates, correlating, correlation, cosmetician, counterraid, countervail, covenanting, craniometry, creationism, creationist, crenelation, crenulation, crepitation, cupellation, cybernation, decantation, deceptional, decimations, declamation, declaration, declination, decollating, decollation, decorations, decussation, dedications, defalcation, defecations, deification, delectation, demarcation, deprecation, desecration, desiccation, detoxicants, detractions, directional, doctrinaire, edification, educational, ejaculation, elicitation, elucidation, emaciations, emancipator, embrocation, encomiastic, enucleation, enunciation, enunciators, equinoctial, eradication, eructations, escalations, euchromatin, evacuations, excavations, exceptional, excitations, exclamation, excoriating, excoriation, exculpation, execrations, exorbitance, expectation, explication, exsiccation, extractions, extrication, fecundation, fianchettos, forecasting, fractionate, gametogenic, genotypical, geomagnetic, glauconites, iceboatings, iconostases, importances, imprecation, inchoatives, incinerator, incorporate, inoculative, inosculated, inosculates, interaction, interatomic, intercostal, intolerance, intoxicated, intoxicates, involucrate, isocyanates, lacerations, macerations, macintoshes, malediction, malefaction, medications, mercuration, metafiction, metonymical, metrication, miscreation, narcoleptic, necromantic, nematocidal, nematocides, neocortical, neuroactive, neuropathic, nonascetics, nonathletic, noncabinets, noncreative, nondiabetic, nonemphatic, nonmagnetic, nonmetallic, nonmetrical, nonoperatic, nonreactive, nonteaching, novaculites, nucleations, obstinacies, outcapering, outcheating, outdistance, outreaching, overactions, overcasting, overcaution, pectination, peculations, pentazocine, percolating, percolation, phonetician, pontificate, pratincoles, precautions, predication, preromantic, procreating, procreation, radiolucent, rarefaction, ratiocinate, reactionary, recantation, recitations, reclamation, recombinant, recordation, recreations, redactional, reductional, reeducation, refractions, reification, reinoculate, relocations, reluctation, replication, retractions, retroacting, retroaction, revocations, rhetorician, romanticise, romanticize, sectionally, semiotician, speciations, speculation, stanchioned, stenobathic, syncopative, tenaciously, teratogenic, thiocyanate, tonetically, trajections, transection, tumefaction, ulcerations, uncaptioned, uncombative, vacationers, valediction, wainscotted. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)41 63 6F 6E 69 74 65 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).- -.-. --- -. .. - . |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000001 01100011 01101111 01101110 01101001 01110100 01100101 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)A c o n i t e |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0041 0063 006F 006E 0069 0074 0065 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)35698180758671 |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Commercial 4. Images: Slideshow | 5. Usage Frequency 6. Expressions 7. Expressions: Internet 8. Translations: Modern | 9. Translations: Ancient 10. Derivations 11. Rhymes 12. Anagrams | 13. Orthography 14. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
