3 definitions
for Adam''s needle
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :
Adam \Ad"am\, n.
1. The name given in the Bible to the first man, the
progenitor of the human race.
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2. (As a symbol) "Original sin;" human frailty.
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And whipped the offending Adam out of him. --Shak.
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Adam's ale, water. [Coll.]
Adam's apple.
1. (Bot.)
(a) A species of banana ({Musa paradisiaca). It attains a
height of twenty feet or more. --Paxton.
(b) A species of lime ({Citris limetta).
2. The projection formed by the thyroid cartilage in the
neck. It is particularly prominent in males, and is so
called from a notion that it was caused by the forbidden
fruit (an apple) sticking in the throat of our first
parent.
Adam's flannel (Bot.), the mullein ({Verbascum thapsus).
Adam's needle (Bot.), the popular name of a genus ({Yucca)
of liliaceous plants.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :
Yucca \Yuc"ca\, n. [NL., from Yuca, its name in St. Domingo.]
(Bot.)
A genus of American liliaceous, sometimes arborescent, plants
having long, pointed, and often rigid, leaves at the top of a
more or less woody stem, and bearing a large panicle of showy
white blossoms.
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Note: The species with more rigid leaves (as Yucca
aloifolia, Yucca Treculiana, and Yucca baccata)
are called Spanish bayonet, and one with softer
leaves ({Yucca filamentosa) is called bear grass,
and Adam's needle.
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Yucca moth (Zool.), a small silvery moth ({Pronuba
yuccasella) whose larvae feed on plants of the genus
Yucca.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 :
Adam's needle
n : yucca with long stiff leaves having filamentlike appendages
[syn: Adam's needle-and-thread, spoonleaf yucca, needle
palm, Yucca filamentosa]
