from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. A drug referred to in Homer's Odyssey as bringing relief from anxiety or grief; hence, any substance seen as bringing welcome forgetfulness or relief.
- n. A Southeast Asian plant of the genus Nepenthes.
- n. Plural form of nepenthe.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. Same as nepenthe.
- n. A genus of climbing plants found in tropical areas of India, Malaya, Australia, etc., which have the leaves prolonged into a kind of stout tendril terminating in a pitcherlike appendage, whence the plants are often called pitcher plants and monkey-cups. There are about thirty species, of which the best known is Nepenthes distillatoria. See Pitcher plant.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A magic potion, mentioned by ancient writers, which was supposed to make persons forget their sorrows and misfortunes.
- n. A genus of pitcher-plants, comprising 31 species, and constituting the order Nepenthaceœ, found especially in the Malay archipelago.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. pitcher plants
Helena's bowl, the sole nectar of the gods, or that true nepenthes in
[* I have since learned that this is an ascertained fact, and that nepenthes are among the insectiverous plants.]
You can imagine the joy of getting into my hands these wonderful nepenthes or “monkey cups” for the first time.
In pain itself I seemed to find the nepenthes that others seek from pain; in suffering was my Lethean draught that brought the only oblivion that I craved.
The graceful pitcher-plants (_nepenthes_) are wonderful and so are many other extraordinary plant creations here, but they cannot be classed as beautiful flowers in the common acceptation of the word.
I have since learned that this is an ascertained fact, and that nepenthes are among the insectiverous plants.
You can imagine the joy of getting into my hands these wonderful nepenthes or "monkey cups" for the first time.
The orchids were of the most brilliant colours; and now and then they passed a lake or pool in the depths of the jungle which would be covered in places with the flower of the lotus, while in every sunny opening the great clusters of nepenthes -- the pitcher plant -- brightened the scene.
Here was a panacea, a pharmakon nepenthes for all human woes; here was the secret of happiness about which philosophers had disputed for so many ages: happiness might be bought for a penny, and carried in the waistcoat pocket.
Isis, and nepenthes whose intoxicating odour makes one forget everything, even the far-distant home.