| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| alyssum |
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| SYLLABICATION: | a·lys·sum |
| PRONUNCIATION: |   -l s m |
| NOUN: | 1. See sweet alyssum. 2. Any of various chiefly Mediterranean weeds or ornamentals of the genus Alyssum in the mustard family, having racemes of white or yellow flowers. Also called madwort. 3. See hoary alyssum. | | ETYMOLOGY: | New Latin Alyssum, genus name, from Latin alysson, kind of madder, from Greek alusson, a plant believed to cure rabies : a-, not; see a–1 + lussa, rabies; see w kwo- in Appendix I.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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