adams needle

Adam \Ad"am\, n.
   1. The name given in the Bible to the first man, the
      progenitor of the human race.
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   2. (As a symbol) "Original sin;" human frailty.
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            And whipped the offending Adam out of him. --Shak.
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   {Adam's ale}, water. [Coll.]

   {Adam's apple}.

   1. (Bot.)
      (a) A species of banana ({Musa paradisiaca}). It attains a
          height of twenty feet or more. --Paxton.
      (b) A species of lime ({Citris limetta}).

   2. The projection formed by the thyroid cartilage in the
      neck. It is particularly prominent in males, and is so
      called from a notion that it was caused by the forbidden
      fruit (an apple) sticking in the throat of our first
      parent.

   {Adam's flannel} (Bot.), the mullein ({Verbascum thapsus}).
      

   {Adam's needle} (Bot.), the popular name of a genus ({Yucca})
      of liliaceous plants.
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Yucca \Yuc"ca\, n. [NL., from Yuca, its name in St. Domingo.]
   (Bot.)
   A genus of American liliaceous, sometimes arborescent, plants
   having long, pointed, and often rigid, leaves at the top of a
   more or less woody stem, and bearing a large panicle of showy
   white blossoms.
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   Note: The species with more rigid leaves (as {Yucca
         aloifolia}, {Yucca Treculiana}, and {Yucca baccata})
         are called {Spanish bayonet}, and one with softer
         leaves ({Yucca filamentosa}) is called {bear grass},
         and {Adam's needle}.
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   {Yucca moth} (Zool.), a small silvery moth ({Pronuba
      yuccasella}) whose larvae feed on plants of the genus
      {Yucca}.
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