al·oe

(ăl′ō)

1. Any of various chiefly African plants of the genus Aloe, having rosettes of succulent, often spiny-margined leaves and long stalks bearing yellow, orange, or red tubular flowers.

2. See aloe vera.

3. aloes(used with a sing. verb)

a. A laxative drug obtained from the processed juice of certain species of aloe. Also called bitter aloes.

b. See aloeswood.

[Middle English, from Old English aluwe, from Latin aloē, from Greek. Sense 3b, ultimately from Late Greek aloē, aloe, aloeswood, from confusion of Greek aloē, aloe with Greek agalokhon, aloeswood, influenced by Hebrew 'ahālôt, an aromatic, probably aloeswood.]

al′o·et′ic (ăl′ō-ĕt′ĭk) adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

aloe

(ˈæləʊ)

n, pl -oes

1. (Plants) any plant of the liliaceous genus Aloe, chiefly native to southern Africa, with fleshy spiny-toothed leaves and red or yellow flowers

2. (Plants) American aloe another name for century plant

[C14: from Latin aloē, from Greek]

aloetic adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

al•oe

(ˈæl oʊ)

n., pl. -oes.

1. any chiefly African shrub belonging to the genus Aloe, of the lily family, certain species of which yield a fiber.

2. aloe vera.

[before 950; Middle English alōe, alow, alewen; Old English al(u)we, alewe (compare Old Saxon, Old High German āloê) < Latin aloē < Greek alóē]

al`o•et′ic, adj.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

aloe - succulent plants having rosettes of leaves usually with fiber like hemp and spikes of showy flowers; found chiefly in Africa

genus Aloe - large genus of chiefly African liliaceous plants; in some systems placed in family Aloeaceae

Aloe ferox, cape aloe - much-branched South African plant with reddish prickly succulent leaves

Aloe vera, burn plant - very short-stemmed plant with thick leaves with soothing mucilaginous juice; leaves develop spiny margins with maturity; native to Mediterranean region; grown widely in tropics and as houseplants

succulent - a plant adapted to arid conditions and characterized by fleshy water-storing tissues that act as water reservoirs

Translations

aloès

aloja

aloe

aloe

алоэ

aloe

[ˈæləʊ]

A. N → aloe m, agave f

B. CPD aloe vera N → aloe m vera

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

aloe

n (Bot, Med) → Aloe f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

aloe

n (bot) aloe or áloe m, sábila, acíbar m

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

At the foot of a flight of steps, leading to the house door, which was guarded on either side by an American aloe in a green tub, the sedan-chair stopped.

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I whispered her name, and she drew aside behind an aloe bush, and, making pretence that her foot was pierced with a thorn, she lingered till the other women had gone by.

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The bamboos and the custard apples, the poinsettias and the mango-trees in the garden stood still while the warm water lashed through them, and the frogs began to sing among the aloe hedges.

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A few aloe plants and some chance-sown pellitory grew on the tops of the square pillars of the gates, which all but concealed the stems of a couple of thornless acacias that raised their tufted spikes, like a pair of green powder-puffs, in the yard.

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Huge pomegranate trees, with their glossy leaves and flame-colored flowers, dark-leaved Arabian jessamines, with their silvery stars, geraniums, luxuriant roses bending beneath their heavy abundance of flowers, golden jessamines, lemon-scented verbenum, all united their bloom and fragrance, while here and there a mystic old aloe, with its strange, massive leaves, sat looking like some old enchanter, sitting in weird grandeur among the more perishable bloom and fragrance around it.

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They had nothing to eat excepting what they could catch, such as ostriches, deer, armadilloes, etc., and their only fuel was the dry stalks of a small plant, somewhat resembling an aloe. The sole luxury which these men enjoyed was smoking the little paper cigars, and sucking mate.

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The Mediterranean, the blue sea par excellence, "the great sea" of the Hebrews, "the sea" of the Greeks, the "mare nostrum" of the Romans, bordered by orange-trees, aloes, cacti, and sea-pines; embalmed with the perfume of the myrtle, surrounded by rude mountains, saturated with pure and transparent air, but incessantly worked by underground fires; a perfect battlefield in which Neptune and Pluto still dispute the empire of the world!

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Behind his counter he was a superior being, calmly conscious of special knowledge and worth; outside he was a weak-kneed, purblind, motorman-cursed rambler, with ill-fitting clothes stained with chemicals and smelling of socotrine aloes and valerianate of ammonia.

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I am off, to cultivate the field of public indigestion with the triple plowshare of aloes, scammony and gamboge." He stopped and turned round at the door.

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Might there not be an irresistible desire to quaff a last, long, breathless draught of the cup of wormwood and aloes, with which nearly all her years of womanhood had been perpetually flavoured.

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Ay, as willingly as when, in the Gulf of Lyons, I flung over my merchandise to lighten the ship, while she laboured in the tempest robed the seething billows in my choice silks perfumed their briny foam with myrrh and aloes enriched their caverns with gold and silver work!

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Ye love-smitten host, know that to Dulcinea only I am dough and sugar-paste, flint to all others; for her I am honey, for you aloes. For me Dulcinea alone is beautiful, wise, virtuous, graceful, and high-bred, and all others are ill-favoured, foolish, light, and low-born.

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