n.
Pronunciation: yü- ' fo ̇ r-b ē - ə
Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin, alteration of Latin euphorbea, from Euphorbus, 1st century A.D. Greek physician
Date: 14th century
: any of a large genus ( Euphorbia ) of herbs, shrubs, and trees of the spurge family that have a milky juice and flowers lacking a calyx and included in an involucre which surrounds a group of several staminate flowers and a central pistillate flower with 3-lobed pistils broadly : SPURGE