purple heart

noun

• 1 (Purple Heart) (in the US) a decoration for members of the armed forces wounded or killed in action, established in 1782 and re-established in 1932.

• 2a large tree of the rainforests of Central and South America, with dark purplish-brown timber which blackens on contact with water.

  • Genus Peltogyne, family Leguminosae: several species

• 3British informal a purple heart-shaped amphetamine tablet.