Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SES'AME, or SES'A-MUM, n. [Fr. sesame; It. sesamo; L. sesama; Gr. σεσαμη, σησαμον.]

Oily grain; a genus of annual herbaceous plants, from the seeds of which an oil is expressed. One species of it is cultivated in Carolina, and the blacks use the seeds for food. It is called there bene. Encyc. Stoe.