pockwoodn.
/ˈpɒkwʊd/, U.S. /ˈpɑkˌwʊd/, Caribbean English /ˈpɑkˌwʊd/ Now chiefly Jamaican.
The wood of the tree Guaiacum officinale, formerly used medicinally, esp. for the treatment of syphilis. Also (more fully pockwood tree): the tree itself. Cf. guaiacum n., lignum vitae n.
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the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medicines for specific purpose > preparations treating or preventing specific ailments > [noun] > for venereal disease or syphilis > plant-derived
diet-wood1568
pockwood1590
teamster's tea1728
iodipin1899
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular medicinal plants or parts > medicinal trees or shrubs > [noun] > non-British medicinal trees or shrubs > guaiacum or lignum vitae
pock tree?1533
guaiacum1553
lignum sanctum1553
pockwood tree1590
lignum vitae1597
wood of life1597
holy wood1712
lignum1899
1590 J. Hester tr. P. Hermanni Excell. Treat. French-pockes sig. ⁋iijv Lignum Guaiacum, commonly called Pockwood.
1600 J. Pory tr. J. Leo Africanus Geogr. Hist. Afr. ix. 357 That wood..is used by the African phisicians for the curing of the French poxe, whereupon it is commonly called by the name of pock-wood.
1678 E. Phillips New World of Words (new ed.) Pockwood-tree,..an Indian Tree, the Wood whereof is brought over in great quantities, by reason of its great virtue, and use in Physick.
1713 W. Salmon Pharmacopœia Bateana (ed. 4) i. vii. 187/2 Tincture of Guajacum, or Pock-wood..is Pulmonick, and profitable against Catarrhs.
1718 J. Quincy Pharmacopœia Officinalis 103 Holy-wood, or Pock-wood is the Wood of a Tree that grows very tall in the East-Indies.
1764 J. Grainger Sugar-cane i. 7 (note) The lignum vitæ or pockwood-tree.
1814 J. Lunan Hortus Jamaicensis I. 444 Pockwood tree.
1903 Gaz. & Bull. (Williamsport, Pa.) 6 Feb. 6/4 The dearer kinds of wood, like West Indian pockwood,..were also received in smaller quantities.
1954 W. Indian Med. Jrnl. 3 26 Guiacum officinale..Pockwood Tree... The wood and resin (gum guaiacum) were at one time officially included in the pharmacopœias.
1971 ‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Doctor Bird xv. 221 Heavy vehicles..crushing the cane and wire-weed and bur-grass, the pockwood and Hercules' club.
1981 E. S. Ayensu Medicinal Plants W. Indies 196 Guaiacum officinale L., lignum vitae, pockwood tree... Resin, wood bark for venereal disease, gout, rheumatism and intermittent fevers.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1590