Edit page | Page history | Printable version

moxa

1. (Science: medicine) A soft woolly mass prepared from the young leaves of artemisia Chinensis, and used as a cautery by burning it on the skin; hence, any substance used in a like manner, as cotton impregnated with niter, amadou.

2. (Science: botany) A plant from which this substance is obtained, especially. Artemisia Chinensis, and A. Moxa.

Origin: A corruption of Japan. Mogusa (pronounced mongsa), an escharotic made from the plant yomigi: cf. F. Moxa.