n. a poisonous plant, Mandragora officinarum, with white or purple flowers and large yellow fruit, having emetic and narcotic properties and possessing a root once thought to resemble the human form and to shriek when plucked.
[ ME mandrag(g)e, prob. f. MDu. mandrag(r)e f. med.L (as MANDRAGORA): assoc. with MAN + drake dragon (cf. DRAKE(1)) ]