Hēn'bāne, n.

n. [Eng. hen and bane; whence Fr. henebane, hanebane, equivalent to mort aux poules; A-S. henbell.] (Bot.) A plant of the genus Hyoscyamus (H. niger). All parts of the plant are highly narcotic, and it is used in medicine as a substitute for opium. It is poisonous to domestic fowls; whence the name; — called, also, stinking nightshade, from the fetid odor of the plant.