Forms: 6 besert, bezer, 6–7 bezahar, 6–8 bezaar, bezar, 7 besohard, besar, beazar, beazer, bazar, bezor, beazoar, bezaor, boezar, 8 besaar, bezard, 7–9 -oard, -oart, 7– bezoar. [Like mod.L. bezahar, bezaar, bezoar (bezardicum, lapis bezoarticus), Sp. bezaar, bezar, bezoar, F. bezahar, bezar, bezoar, bezoard, ad. Arab. bāzahr or bādizahr, ad. Per. pād-zahr counter-poison, antidote, bezoar stone; f. zahr poison. In 17th c. Eng., as in F. and Sp., bezahar, bezaar was reduced to two syllables, bezar, beazar, beazer. The spelling bezoar (for bezaär) appears to be of mod.L. origin; it has influenced the pronunciation given in dictionaries since the end of last century.]
† 1. gen. A counter-poison or antidote. Obs. (In later writers taken as a fig. use of sense 2 a: hence, also, bezoar-stone.)
1597. Gerard, Herbal, II. ccclxxiv. (1633), 969. This root Anthora is the Bezoar or counterpoison to that Thora.
1607. Topsell, Serpents, 775. The juice of Apples being drunk, and Endive, are the proper Bezoar against the venom of a Phalangie.
1637. Earl Monmouth, Rom. & Tarquin, 208. Valour is a kinde of Besar, which comforts the hearts of subjects, that they may the better endure a Tyrants venome.
1750. trans. Leonardus’ Mirr. Stones, 78. Every Thing that frees the Body from any Ailment, is called the Bezoar of that Ailment.
b. 1658. J. Rowland, Moufet’s Theat. Ins., 929. A Hornet is the Bezoar stone for its own wound.
2. Various substances formerly held as antidotes:
spec. a. A calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of some animals, chiefly ruminants, formed of concentric layers of animal matter deposited round some foreign substance, which serves as a nucleus. Often called bezoar-stone. (The ordinary current sense.)
The original sort was the lapis bezoar orientale, obtained from the wild goat of Persia and various antelopes, etc.; the lapis bezoar occidentale, obtained from the lamas of Peru, was less valued; the chamois yielded German bezoar.
1586. Frampton, Joyf. News, 126. The stone is called the Bezaar, beyng … approved good against Venome.
1585. in Nichols, Progr. Q. Eliz., II. 420. Item, a besert stone.
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 230. Diuisible into many shels or huskes like a Bezoar stone.
1622. R. Hawkins, Voy. S. Sea (1847), 74. The becunia, and other beasts, which breed the beazer stone.
1638. Shirley, Mart. Soldier, III. iv. in Bullen, O. Pl. (1882), I. 217. A true rare Quintessence Extracted out of Orientall Bezar.
1670. J. Narbrough, in Burney, Discov. S. Sea, III. xiii. (1813), 333. I had his [a guanaco’s] paunch opened to search for the Bezoar stone.
1749. Phil. Trans., XLVI. 120. Rhinoceros-Bezoars, which I supposed were taken out of the Stomach or Guts of that large Animal.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1862), I. II. iii. 307. The concretion sometimes found in the stomach of these animals [the chamois], called the German Bezoar.
1849. Todd, Cycl. Anat. & Phys., IV. 85/1. The oriental bezoard, a resinous intestinal calculus.
1882. Catal. Museum St. Barthol. Hosp., I. 542 (No. 293). Section of a Bezoar, composed chiefly of Pinic Acid. Its nucleus is a date-stone.
† b. Alleged stones or concretions of various kinds. (Usually due to ignorance of the origin of the prec.) Obs.
1477. Norton, Ord. Alch., in Ashm. V. (1652), 72. Bezoars of the Mine.
1594. Blundevil, Exerc., V. ix. (ed. 7), 550. This stone Bezar groweth in a concavity in manner of a girdle about two handfull long and three inches broad.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 100. The hart … sendeth forth certain tears, which are turned into a stone called ‘bezahar.’
1618. Rep. E. Ind. Comp., in Jas. Mill, Brit. India, I. I. ii. 23. On the island of Borneo, diamonds, bezoar stones, and gold, might be obtained.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (1677), 358. The soil … uberous in rich Stones, as Diamonds, Chrysolites, Onyx, Magnets and Bezoars.
† c. Applied to various medicinal preparations.
1706. Phillips, Bezoar Minerale, a Chymical Preparation of Butter of Antimony. Ibid., Bezoar-Animale, the Livers and Hearts of Vipers dry’d in the Sun and powder’d.
1710. T. Fuller, Pharm. Extemp., 309.
1807. Aikin, Dict. Chem., Bezoard Mineral is a perfect oxyd of Antimony.
† 3. transf. The wild goat of Persia, the best-known source of the calculus (2 a). In later times called bezoar-goat; so bezoar antelope. Obs. (Early writers confound beazer and beaver.)
1611. Cotgr., Bezoard … breeds in the maw of the Goat called a Beazer.
1620. Ford, Linea V., 60. Their places and honours are hunted after as the beazar for his preservatiues.
1670. Phil. Trans., V. 1177. The Oriental Bezoar … being a Savage Animal like a kid.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1862), I. II. iii. 308. The Bezoar goat … is the animal famous for that concretion in the intestines … called the oriental bezoar.
1781. trans. Buffon’s Nat. Hist., VI. 407, note. The bezoar antilope … is one of the animals which produce the bezoar.
4. Attrib. and Comb., as bezoard-extract, etc.
1641. French, Distill., ii. (1651), 60. Which may be called a Bezoard extract.
1676. Phil. Trans., XI. 743. The Bezoar-like virtue of such stones.
1709. G. Wilson, Chym., i. (ed. 3), 13. One Pound more of new Bezoart Spirit of Nitre.
