medicine
English
Alternative forms
- medicin (obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle English medicin, borrowed from Middle French medicine, from Old French medecine, from Latin medicīna (“the healing art, medicine, a physician's shop, a remedy, medicine”), feminine of medicinus (“of or belonging to physic or surgery, or to a physician or surgeon”), from medicus (“a physician, surgeon”), from medeor (“I heal”).
The extended sense of "Indigenous magic" is a Calque of Ojibwe mashkiki (“medicine”) or mide [or cognates in related languages] when used in compounds such as Grand Medicine Society, medicine lodge, medicine dance, medicine bag, medicine wheel, medicine man, Medicine Line, and bad medicine or place names such as Medicine Hat, Medicine Creek, etc.
Pronunciation
Noun
medicine (countable and uncountable, plural medicines)
- A substance which specifically promotes healing when ingested or consumed in some way.
- A treatment or cure.
- 1625, Francis Bacon, "Of Innovation"
- Surely every medicine is an innovation; and he that will not apply new remedies, must expect new evils […]
- 1625, Francis Bacon, "Of Innovation"
- The study of the cause, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of disease or illness.
- The profession of physicians, surgeons and related specialisms; those who practice medicine.
- Ritual Native American magic used by a medicine man to promote a desired outcome in healing, hunting, warfare etc.
- Among the Native Americans, any object supposed to give control over natural or magical forces, to act as a protective charm, or to cause healing.
- (Can we date this quote?), F. H. Giddings, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
- The North American Indian boy usually took as his medicine the first animal of which he dreamed during the long and solitary fast that he observed at puberty.
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- (obsolete) black magic, superstition.
- (obsolete) A philter or love potion.
- 1597, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part I, II. ii. 18:
- If the rascal have not given me medicines to make me love him, I'll be hanged. It could not be else. I have drunk medicines.
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- (obsolete) A physician.
- 1598, William Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well, II. i. 72:
- I have seen a medicine / That's able to breathe life into a stone
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- (slang) recreational drugs, especially alcoholic drinks
Synonyms
- (substance): drug, prescription, pharmaceutical, elixir
- (treatment): regimen, course, program, prescription
- See also Thesaurus:medicine
- See also Thesaurus:pharmaceutical
Derived terms
- Ayurvedic medicine
- clinical medicine
- Edison's medicine
- energy medicine
- evidence-based medicine
- folk medicine
- forced medicine
- hallway medicine
- indigenous medicine
- medicinal
- medicine ball
- medicine dance
- Medicine Hat
- Medicine Lodge
- medicine man
- medicine show
- organized medicine
- take one's medicine
- taste of one's own medicine
- traditional medicine
- Yellow Medicine County
Related terms
Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Verb
medicine (third-person singular simple present medicines, present participle medicining, simple past and past participle medicined)
- (rare, obsolete) To treat with medicine.
- 1857, Delia Bacon, The philosophy of the plays of Shakspere unfolded:
- And we shall find, under the head of the medicining of the body, some things on the subject of medicine in general, which could be better said there than here, because of the wrath of professional dignitaries,- the eye of the 'basilisk,' was not perhaps quite so terrible in that quarter then, as it was in some others.
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References
- Prescription Desk Reference, Prescription Drug Information:
- “medicine” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- "medicine" in the Merriam-Webster On-line dictionary
- "medicine" in the Hutchinson Encyclopaedia, Helicon Publishing LTD 2007.
- medicine in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
- medicine at OneLook Dictionary Search
Middle French
Etymology
From Old French medecine, with the i added back to reflect the original Latin medicīna.
Spanish
Verb
medicine
- First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of medicinar.
- Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of medicinar.
- Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted?) present subjunctive form of medicinar.
- Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of medicinar.