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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

echidnine en · NOUN

Etymology

From Greek ἔχιδνα (ékhidna, “snake, viper”) + -ine.

Meanings

  1. (uncountable) The clear, viscid fluid secreted by the poison glands of certain snakes.
  2. (uncountable) A nitrogenous base contained in this fluid, believed to be the active poisonous principle of the virus.
    • Prince Lucien Bonaparte has shown that the poison of the Viper consists essentially of a principle to which he has given the name echidnine or viperine 1861, Alfred Moquin-Tandon, Elements of Medical Zoology: