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Definition of Purple heart
1. Noun. A United States military decoration awarded to any member of the armed forces who is wounded in action.
Generic synonyms: Decoration, Laurel Wreath, Medal, Medallion, Palm, Ribbon
2. Noun. A long-acting barbiturate used as a sedative.
Generic synonyms: Barbiturate
Definition of Purple heart
1. Noun. (chiefly US military) A US military decoration awarded in the name of the President of the United States to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after 5 April 1917 with the U.S. military. ¹
2. Noun. The drug phenobarbitone when used for illicit purposes. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Lexicographical Neighbors of Purple Heart
Literary usage of Purple heart
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Sketches of the animal and vegetable productions of America by Mary Roberts (1839)
"... the beautiful brown letter-wood, spotted like a leopard's skin, or varied with
marks resembling hieroglyphics, or else the purple heart, so called from ..."
2. A Description of British Guiana, Geographical and Statistical: Exhibiting by Robert Hermann Schomburgk (1840)
"The purple heart is rather scarce on the coast- regions. It is a tree of the
largest size, and its wood is used for furniture in consequence of the beauty ..."
3. A Practical Treatise on Dyeing and Calico-printing; Including the Latest by Edward Andrew Parnell, Robert Macfarlane (1860)
"purple heart.—At a recent meeting of the Manchester (England) Philosophical
Society, Dr. F. Grace Calvert, the eminent chemist, read a paper on researches ..."
4. The Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia: Commercial by Edward Balfour (1885)
"It has a purple heart- vood ; H is much used for building purposes, ... ItB wood
is light-coloured, with a purple heart ; it is dose-grained, ..."
5. Wood: A Manual of the Natural History and Industrial Applications of the by George Simonds Boulger (1902)
"Much used for posts, piles, sleepers, etc. Purple-heart of Guiana ... Used for
furniture, gun-carriages and works of construction. Purple-heart of Trinidad ..."