The fetid gum resin or inspissated juice of a large umbelliferous plant (Ferula asafoetida) of Persia and the East India. It is used in medicine as an antispasmodic. [Written also assafoetida.]
Deviating from the normal, perfect, or mature form;
having different forms at different stages of existence, or in
different individuals of the same species; -- applied especially to
insects ...