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staves·a·cre (stāvzākər)
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n.
1. A delphinium (Delphinium staphisagria) of southern Europe, having purple or blue flowers.
2. The poisonous seeds of this plant, formerly used medicinally especially to kill external parasites such as lice.

[By folk etymology (influenced by stave acre) from Middle English staphisagre, from Latin staphis agria, from Greek staphis agriā (literally, "wild raisin," from the raisinlike appearance of the seeds ) : staphis, raisin, stavesacre (from variant of earlier astaphis, raisin; perhaps akin to staphulē, bunch of grapes; see STAPHYLO-) + agriā, feminine of agrios, wild; see agro- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.