bezoar noun. ['bi:zɔ:, 'bɛzǝʊɑ:] L15.
[French bézoard (earlier bezar, bezahar(d)), Spanish bezar, mod. Latin beza(h)ar, ult. from Arab. bādizahr, bāzahr from Persian pādzahr antidote, from pād protecting (from) + zahr poison.]
1. A stone, a concretion. L15-M17.
2. A concretion with a hard nucleus found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals (chiefly ruminants), formerly believed to be antidotal. L16.
3. An antidote. Passing into fig. use of sense 2. L16-M18.
4. More fully bezoar goat, bezoar antelope. The wild goat of Persia (the best-known source of the concretion of sense 2). E17-L18.

■ bezoardic [bɛzǝʊ'ɑ:dɪk], bezoartic adjective & noun (arch.) [mod. Latin bezoardicus, -ticus] (a) adjective of or pertaining to a bezoar, antidotal; (b) an antidote: E17.

[TahlilGaran] English Dictionary ▲