Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CAL'AM-BAC, n. [Sp. calambuco.]

Aloes-wood, xyloe-aloes, a drug, which is the product of a tree growing in China and some of the Indian isles. It is of a light spongy texture, very porous, and the pores so filled with a soft fragrant resin, that it may be indented by the fingers and chewed like mastich. It is also called Tambac. The two coarser kinds are called Lignum aloes, and Calambour. – Encyc.