sb. and a. [ad. L. agaric-um the tree fungus used for tinder, touchwood, ad. Gr. ἀγαρικ-όν (said by Dioscorides to be named from Agaria a place in Sarmatia). Hence mod.L. Agaricus given by Dillenius, and adopted by Linnæus, for a genus of Fungi. Shelley accents aga·ric, Tennyson a·garic.]
A. sb.
1. Herb. and Pharm. A name given to various corky species of Polyporus, a genus of fungi growing upon trees; of which P. officinalis, chiefly found on the Larch, the ‘Female Agarick’ of old writers, was renowned as a cathartic, and with P. fomentarius, and igniarius, ‘Male Agarick’ used as a styptic, as tinder, and in dyeing. Obs. or arch.
1533. Elyot, Castel of Helth (1541), 79. One dramme of Agaryke and halfe a dramme of fine Reubarbe.
1551. Turner, Herbal, II. 29. Larche tre … giueth also … ye famus medicine called Agarick … whereof some make tunder both in England and Germany for their gunnes.
1657. Phys. Dict., Agaric … purgeth phlegm, and opens obstructions in the Liver.
1756. Gentlem. Mag., XXVI. 352. The agaric sent from France, and applied as a styptic after amputations.
1836. Todd, Cycl. Anat. & Phys., I. 229/1. Agaric and sponge entangled the blood and retained a coagulum on the spot.
2. Bot. A mushroom; properly one of the Linnæan genus Agaricus.
1777. Lightfoot, Fl. Scot. (1788), II. 1021. Little Champignion or Fairy Agaric: In dry pastures and frequently in those green circles of grass called Fairy Rings.
1820. Shelley, Sens. Plant, III. 62. And agarics and fungi, with mildew and mould.
1859. Tennyson, Gareth, 728. As one That smells a foul-flesh’d agaric in the holt.
1862. Coleman, Woodl. Heaths, etc., 32. The Fly Agaric … is a very handsome fungus, having a bright red upper surface.
3. = Agaric Mineral: see 4.
1727. Chambers, Cycl., Agaric is also a denomination given to an earthy concretion, of the colour and consistence of coagulated milk.
4. Comb. agaric-gnat, a name given by Kirby and Spence to a genus of insects (Mycetophila); agaric-mineral, a light, spongy variety of carbonate of lime, called also Rock-milk, allied to stalactites, and deposited by calcareous springs and in caverns.
1828. Kirby & Spence, Entomol., II. xvi. 7. From the antennæ in his figure, it should seem a species of agaric-gnat.
1837–80. Dana, Mineral., 680. Agaric Mineral … Rock-milk is a very soft, white material, breaking easily in the fingers.
B. adj. [The sb. used attrib.] Of or pertaining to agarics; fungoid.
1879. Syd. Soc. Lex., Agaric Acid, an acid obtained from Polyporus officinalis by extracting with ethers.
1879. G. Macdonald, P. Faber, I. x. 117. The efflorescent crusts and agaric tumours upon the dry bones of theology.
