ERGOT (Fr. ergot, a cock's spur), a disease caused in rye and some other grasses by the attack of a fungus called Ergotia abortans, which induces a morbid condition in
the ovarian cells. See BOTANY, vol. v., p. 172. Rye thus affected is highly poisonous, and has sometimes caused death by a kind of mortification called dry gangrene. Ergot is a valuable agent employed in obstetric practice for promoting the contraction of the uterus.