Definition of "plumbago" [plum•ba•go]

• See graphite. (noun)
• Any of various plants of the genus Plumbago; leadwort. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Graphite, locally known as plumbago, the only commercial mineral of the country, might be seen in the Palace of Mines and Metallurgy."
• "Here are the magnolia, the laurel, the Japanese medlar, the oleander, the pepper, the bay, the date-palm, a tree called the plumbago, another from the Cape of Good"
• "Carbon, combined with a small quantity of iron, forms a compound called plumbago, or black-lead, of which pencils are made."