Lig·num-vi·tae n.  Bot. A tree (Guaiacum officinale) found in the warm latitudes of America, from which the guaiacum of medicine is procured. Its wood is very hard and heavy, and is used for various mechanical purposes, as for the wheels of ships' blocks, cogs, bearings, and the like. See Guaiacum.
 Note: ☞ In New Zealand the Metrosideros buxifolia is called lignum-vitæ, and in Australia a species of Acacia. The bastard lignum-vitæ is a West Indian tree (Sarcomphalus laurinus).

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 Gua·ia·cum n.
 1. Bot. A genus of small, crooked trees, growing in tropical America.
 2. The heart wood or the resin of the Guaiacum officinale or lignum-vitæ, a large tree of the West Indies and Central America. It is much used in medicine. [Written also guaiac.]

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 Guaiacum officinale
      n : small evergreen tree of Caribbean and southern Central
          America to northern South America; a source of lignum
          vitae wood, hardest of commercial timbers, and a
          medicinal resin [syn: lignum vitae]