SG Heritage Dictionary

Elater [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. One who, or that which, elates.

2. An elastic spiral filament for dispersing the spores, as in some liverworts.

3. Any beetle of the family Elateridae, having the habit, when laid on the back, of giving a sudden upward spring, by a quick movement of the articulation between the abdomen and thorax; -- called also click beetle, spring beetle, and snapping beetle.

4. The caudal spring used by Podura and related insects for leaping. See Collembola.

5. The active principle of elaterium, being found in the juice of the wild or squirting cucumber (Ecballium agreste, formerly Motordica Elaterium) and other related species. It is extracted as a bitter, white, crystalline substance, which is a violent purgative.

Elaterite [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

A mineral resin, of a blackish brown color, occurring in soft, flexible masses; -- called also mineral caoutchouc, and elastic bitumen.

Elaterium [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

A substance deposited from the very acrid juice of the Momordica elaterium wild cucumber. It is in thin cakes of a greenish color and bitter taste, and is a powerful cathartic.

Elaterium [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

A cathartic substance obtained, in the form of yellowish or greenish cakes, as the dried residue of the juice of the wild or squirting cucumber (Ecballium agreste, formerly called Momordica Elaterium).

Elaterium Encyclopedia Britannica

ELATERIUM, a drug consisting of a sediment deposited by the juice of the fruit of Ecbalium Elaterium, the squirting cucumber (see vol. vi. p. 688.) To prepare it, the fruit is sliced lengthwise and slightly pressed; the greenish and slightly turbid juice thus obtained is strained and set aside; and the deposit of elaterium formed after a few hours is collected on a linen filter, rapidly drained, and dried on porous tiles at a gentle heat. Elaterium is met with in commerce in light, thin, friable, flat or slightly incurved opaque cakes, of a greyish-green colour, bitter taste, and tea-like smell. The best kind is the English, prepared at Hitchin, Market Deeping, Mitcham, and elsewhere; the Maltese is generally very inferior. Elaterium is an exceedingly powerful hydragogue and drastic purgative, and not unfrequently produces vomiting. Its active principal is elaterin, a crystallizable body of the formula C 20 H 2s O 5 .

9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 7, p. 825
[154 words — estimated reading time: 1 minute]

Elaterometer [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

Same as Elatrometer.

Elatery [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

Acting force or elasticity; as the elatery of the air. [Unusual.]

Elatery [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

Acting force; elasticity.