Atropine

Pronunciation

• US enPR: ă-trō-pÄ“n IPA: /æ-tɹo-pin/

Origin

Atropa ("genus of deadly nightshade") + -ine

Full definition of atropine

Noun

1. (poison, pharmaceutical drug) An alkaloid extracted from the plant deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna) and other sources. Though overdoses would be fatal it is used as a drug in medicine for its paralytic effects (e.g. in surgery to relax muscles, in dentistry to dry the mouth, in ophthalmology to dilate the pupils).