Dictionary

euphrasy en · NOUN

Etymology

From Ancient Greek εὐφρασία (euphrasía, “good cheer”), from εὐφραίνω (euphraínō), from φρήν (phrḗn).

Meanings

1. The eyebright, Euphrasia officinalis.
   • In these delightful moments, released from the burden of her tyrant malady, her eyes seem to have been touched with the herb euphrasy, and she has the gift, denied to the rest of her generation, of seeing nature and describing what she sees. 1913, Edmund Gosse, Gossip in a Library:
   • On the next morning any one whose eyes were purged with euphrasy and rue might have observed an owl and a fairy queen fluttering in the smoky air above Burlington House. 1885, May Kendall, Andrew Lang, 'That Very Mab':
   • But to nobler sights Michael from Adam's eyes the film removed, Which that false fruit that promised clearer sight Had bred; then purged with euphrasy and rue The visual nerve, for he had much to see; And from the well of life three drops instilled. 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost:

Forms