ergot: Meaning and Definition of

er•got

1. a disease of rye and other cereal grasses, caused by a fungus of the genus Claviceps, esp. C. purpurea, which replaces the affected grain with a long, hard, blackish sclerotial body.
2. the sclerotial body itself.
2. the dried sclerotium of C. purpurea, developed on rye plants: used in the production of ergotamine and ergotoxine.