apothecary

English

WOTD – 3 June 2010

Etymology

From Old French apotecaire, from Medieval Latin apothecarius (storekeeper), from apotheca (shop, store), earlier Latin apotheca (repository, storehouse, warehouse), from Ancient Greek ἀποθήκη (apothḗkē, a repository, storehouse), from ἀπό (apó, away) + τίθημι (títhēmi, to put) literally "a place where things are put away,"

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /əˈpɒθəkəɹi/
  • (US) IPA(key): /əˈpɑθəˌkɛəɹi/
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Noun

apothecary (plural apothecaries)

  1. (dated) A person who makes and provides/sells drugs and/or medicines.
  2. (nonstandard, dated) A drugstore or pharmacy.
    • 1919, S.A., “Pharmacy in Russia”, in Soviet Russia, volume 1, number 27, page 6:
      The Russian people as a whole almost revered the apothecary, and they entered it as they would enter a sanctum.
    • 1998, Karen Holliday Tanner, Doc Holliday: A Family Portrait, University of Oklahoma Press (2001), →ISBN, pages 205–206:
      He was befriended by a local druggist, Jay Miller, who worked at the apothecary at the corner of Sixth and Harrison Street.
    • 2001, Audrey Horning, “Archeology and the Science of Discovery”, in Barbara Heath et al., Jamestown Archeological Assessment, U.S. National Parks Service, page 31:
      Seeds found in a 1630s refuse-filled clay borrow pit, located near an apothecary, illustrate colonists[sic, meaning colonists’] intense interest in experimenting with the medicinal qualities of New World plants.

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Further reading

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