amaranth

1. (dated, poetic) An imaginary flower that does not wither.Examples: "With ſolemn adoration down they [the angels] caſt / Thir Crowns inwove with Amarant and Gold; / Immortal Amarant, a Flour which once / In Paradiſe, faſt by the Tree of Life / Began to bloom, but ſoon for mans offence / To Heav'n remov'd where firſt it grew, there grows, / And flours aloft ſhading the Fount of Life, […]"; "Thouſands of flow'rs their ſilken webs unfold, / Amarants, immortal amarants ariſe, / Theſe beaming bright with vegetable gold, / And theſe with azure, theſe with Tyrian dyes; […]"; "Or, propt on beds of amaranth and moly, / How sweet (while warm airs lull us, blowing lowly,)"countabledatedpoeticuncountable

2. (organic chemistry) A red to purple azo dye used as a biological stain, and in some countries in cosmetics and as a food colouring. See Amaranth (dye).Examples: "Amaranth, the most common red food colour in both the US and UK, was banned last week in the US after a study suggested that it caused cancer in rats. […] The situation is confused, however, because the test rats were mixed up with the controls in the US tests, and because some tests have indicated hazards while similar tests show the dye to be safe. In April 1975, the joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) gave amaranth temporary approval through 1978."; "Amaranth is a red azo-dye with the chemical name trisodium 2-hydroxyl-1-(4-sulfonato-1-naphthylazo)naphthalene-3,6-disulfonate […]. Amaranth appears to be relatively unstable in solution and in processed food. Biscuits containing Amaranth showed a loss of 39–45% promoted by the use of baking soda, sucrose, and dextrose. The degradation of Amaranth may lead to the presence of naphthenic acid equivalent to the loss of Amaranth."Synonyms: E123countableuncountable

3. (cooking) The seed of these plants, used as a cereal.Examples: "They [the Aztecs] considered the plant sacred and it played a key role in many rituals. The Catholic Spaniards were particularly disturbed by the practice of mixing a little blood from human sacrifices into amaranth dough, baking it into cakes which were then broken up and eaten by the faithful. […] In the nineteenth century there were reports of rosaries being made out of the stuff, and popped amaranth, mixed with honey, is still used to make a sweet called alegria ('happiness') in Mexico."countableuncountable