Wordnet 3.0
NOUN (1)
1.
an alkaloid plant toxin extracted chiefly from nux vomica;
formerly used as a stimulant;
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Strychnine \Strych"nine\, n. [L. strychnos a kind of nightshade,
Gr. ?: cf. F. strychnine.] (Chem.)
A very poisonous alkaloid resembling brucine, obtained from
various species of plants, especially from species of
Loganiaceae, as from the seeds of the St. Ignatius bean
(Strychnos Ignatia) and from nux vomica. It is obtained as
a white crystalline substance, having a very bitter acrid
taste, and is employed in medicine (chiefly in the form of
the sulphate) as a powerful neurotic stimulant. Called also
strychnia, and formerly strychnina.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
strychnine
n 1: an alkaloid plant toxin extracted chiefly from nux vomica;
formerly used as a stimulant