abirritant

From ab- (prefix from Latin ab (“from”)) + irritant, from French irritant, from Latin irrītō (“to irritate”).

af

prefix from Latin <i class="Latn mention" lang="la">ab</i> (“from”)

(pharmacology) A medicine that diminishes irritation.


abirritative

en-adj

abirritative (comparative more abirritative, superlative most abirritative)

more abirritative (comparative)
most abirritative (superlative)

(pharmacology) Characterized by abirritation or debility.


abluent

abluent (comparative more abluent, superlative most abluent)

more abluent (comparative)
most abluent (superlative)

From Latin abluēns, present active participle of abluō (“I wash off or away; cleanse, purify”), from ab (“from, away from”) + lavō (“I wash, cleanse”). See lave.

(pharmacology) Washing away; carrying off impurities; detergent.


abortifacient

abortifacient (comparative more abortifacient, superlative most abortifacient)

more abortifacient (comparative)
most abortifacient (superlative)

First attested in 1875. abort + -facient (“causing an”), from Latin facere (“to make”).

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles

Oxford University Press
w:Oxford University Press


abortifacient

(pharmacology) A drug or an agent that induces an abortion.


abortive

abortive (comparative more abortive, superlative most abortive)

more abortive (comparative)
most abortive (superlative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Mélange a trois-abortive.wav

First attested in 1382, with the meaning "causing stillbirth or miscarriage". From Middle English abortif, from Old French abortif, from Latin abortīvus (“causing abortion”), from aborior (“miscarry, disappear”), from ab (“amiss”) + orior (“appear, be born, arise”).

abortive medicines

1809, Bartholomew Parr, Medical Dictionary:

Each country may have a different prevalence of infectious abortive agents. The most common agents of abortion in cattle are Brucella spp., Campylobacter spp., Chlamydiaceae, Coxiella burnetii, Leptospira spp., […]

2018 May, Carla Sebastiania, Ludovica Curcioa, Marcella Ciulloa, Deborah Crucianib, Silvia Crottib, Cristina Pescab, Martina Torricellia, Martina Sebastianellia, Andrea Felicic, Massimo Biagetti, “A multi-screening Fast qPCR approach to the identification of abortive agents in ruminants”, in Journal of Microbiological Methods, volume 148, →DOI, page 12:

(medicine, pharmacology, rare) Causing abortion; abortifacient.


die

Borrowed from Latin die (“[in a] day”), locative of Latin dies (“day”).

Clozapine 100 mg die a.m.

Clozapine, 100 milligrams per day, given in the morning


AD

en-noun

AD (countable and uncountable, plural ADs)

ADs (plural)
A.D. (alternative)
A. D. (alternative)

(pharmacology) Initialism of antidepressant.


ROI

route of administration
route of administration#English

(pharmacology) Initialism of route of administration.


drug

From Middle English drogge (“medicine”), from Old French drogue, drocque (“tincture, pharmaceutical product”), from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German droge, as in droge vate (“dry vats, dry barrels”), mistaking droge for the contents, which were usually dried herbs, plants or wares. Droge comes from Middle Dutch drōghe (“dry”), from Old Dutch drōgi (“dry”), from Proto-Germanic *draugiz (“dry, hard”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewgʰ- (“to strengthen; become hard or solid”), from *dʰer- (“to hold, hold fast, support”). Cognate with English dry, Dutch droog (“dry”), German trocken (“dry”).

عَقَّار

substance used as a medical treatment — see also medicine

Aspirin is a drug that reduces pain, acts against inflammation and lowers body temperature.

The revenues from both brand-name drugs and generic drugs have increased.

whence merchants bring their spicy drugs

1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

In the future, he says, a focus on the hate circuit may open new avenues for treatment – including new drugs and psychotherapies – that target this and other specific circuits in the brain.

2011 October 4, Amanda MacMillan, “Depressed brains may hate differently”, in CNN:

(pharmacology) A substance used to treat an illness, relieve a symptom, or modify a chemical process in the body for a specific purpose.


BID

It has been repeatedly documented that moving patients from a TID dosing regimen to BID or OD vastly improves compliance, and thus the medicine's effectiveness.

2014 April, Ken. Seufert, “The New Dawn of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing: Innovative Solutions for Unprecedented Challenges”, in American Pharmaceutical Review:

(pharmacology) twice a day, two times per day


AP

en-noun

AP (countable and uncountable, plural APs)

He pointed out that the annual cost of AP prophylaxis is $2100, and that a single hospitalization for pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) costs six times that amount. (AP is generally regarded as an effective preventive for PCP)

1989 April 22, Chris Bull, “Medicare Planning To Cut Funding For AIDS Drugs”, in Gay Community News, page 1:

(uncountable, pharmacology) Initialism of aerosolized pentamidine.


MS

MS (countable and uncountable, plural MSes)

(pharmacology) Initialism of morphine sulfate.


PI

PI (countable and uncountable, plural PIs)

protease inhibitor
protease inhibitor#English

(pharmacology) Initialism of protease inhibitor.


NF

(US, pharmacology) Initialism of National Formulary, a book of public pharmacopeial standards.


LA

local anesthetic
local anesthetic#English

(pharmacology) Initialism of local anesthetic.


oral

PIE word
 *h₁óh₃s
Early 17th century borrowing from Late Latin ōrālis, from ōs (“the mouth”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix).

af

(pharmacology) Done or taken by the mouth.

Relating to the mouth.
Done or taken by the mouth.


hard

en-noun

hard (countable and uncountable, plural hards)

From Middle English hard, from Old English heard, from Proto-West Germanic *hard(ī), from Proto-Germanic *harduz, from Proto-Indo-European *kort-ús, from *kret- (“strong, powerful”). Cognate with German hart, Swedish hård, Ancient Greek κρατύς (kratús), Sanskrit क्रतु (krátu), Avestan 𐬑𐬭𐬀𐬙𐬎 (xratu).

(uncountable, drugs, slang) Crack cocaine.


mass

mass (countable and uncountable, plural masses)

In late Middle English (circa 1400) as masse in the sense of "lump, quantity of matter", from Anglo-Norman masse, in Old French attested from the 11th century, via late Latin massa (“lump, dough”), from Ancient Greek μᾶζα (mâza, “barley-cake, lump (of dough)”). The Greek noun may be derived from the verb μάσσω (mássō, “to knead”), ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European *maǵ- (“to oil, knead”), although this is uncertain. Doublet of masa.
The sense of "a large number or quantity" arises circa 1580. The scientific sense is from 1687 (as Latin massa) in the works of Isaac Newton, with the first English use (as mass) occurring in 1704.

der

blue mass

(pharmacology) A medicinal substance made into a cohesive, homogeneous lump, of consistency suitable for making pills.

massa

pharmacy: medicinal substance made into a cohesive, homogeneous lump


rail

→ Catalan: rail

→ Dutch: rail

→ French: rail

→ Japanese: レール (rēru)

→ Punjabi: ਰੇਲ (rel)

→ Spanish: raíl

→ Swahili: reli

→ Tibetan: རི་ལི (ri li, “train”)

From Middle English rail, rayl, *reȝel, *reȝol (found in reȝolsticke (“a ruler”)), partly from Old English regol (“a ruler, straight bar”) and partly from Old French reille; both from Latin regula (“rule, bar”), from regō (“to rule, to guide, to govern”); see regular. Doublet of regal, regula, rigol, and rule.

doublet

Do a couple rails and chase your own tail

(drugs) A large line (portion or serving of a powdery illegal drug).


rail

en-verb

rail (third-person singular simple present rails, present participle railing, simple past and past participle railed)

rails (present singular third-person)
railing (participle present)
railed (participle past)
railed (past)

All I can think about is being seventeen days sober and desperate to rail a line of blow after last night's group outing to see Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring (at my request), which, in hindsight, was a fucking dumb thing for a rehab to approve of.

2025 May 27, Tommy Dorfman, “Finding God”, in Maybe This Will Save Me: A Memoir of Art, Addiction and Transformation, Harlequin, →ISBN:

(transitive, slang, drugs) To snort a line of powdered drugs.


internal

en-adj

internal (comparative more internal, superlative most internal)

more internal (comparative)
most internal (superlative)
internall (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English internall, internalle, borrowing from New Latin internālis (“of or pertaining to the inner part”), from internus (“inward, internal”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix). By surface analysis, intern + -al.

af

an internal remedy

(pharmacology) Applied or intended for application through the stomach by being swallowed.


simple

en-adj

simple (comparative simpler or more simple, superlative simplest or most simple)

simpler (comparative)
more simple (comparative)
simplest (superlative)
most simple (superlative)

Inherited from Middle English symple, simple, from Old French and French simple, from Latin simplex (“simple”, literally “onefold”) (as opposed to duplex (“double”, literally “twofold”)), from semel (“the same”) + plicō (“I fold”). See same and fold. Compare single, singular, simultaneous, etc.
Partially displaced native English onefold.

der

(heading, technical) Structurally uncomplicated.

(chemistry, pharmacology) Consisting of one single substance; uncompounded.


simple

Dere is some simples in my closet, dat I vill not for the varld I shall leave behind.

c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, […] [T]he Merrie Wiues of Windsor. […] (First Quarto), London: […] T[homas] C[reede] for Arthur Ihonson, […], published 1602, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:

I know there are some simples, which in operation are moistening and some drying.

1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 37, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

[W]hat Virtue there is in this Remedy lies in the naked Simple it ſelf, as it comes over from the Indies, and in the Choice of that which is leaſt dried, or periſhed by the Voyage.

a. 1700 (date written), William Temple, “Of Health and Long-life”, in Miscellanea. The Third Part. […], London: […] Jonathan Swift, […] Benjamin Tooke, […], published 1701, →OCLC, pages 183–184:

The first fellow that picked an herb to cure himself had a bit of pluck. Simples. Want to be careful.

1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

The venerable carryall, formerly brimming with all manner of esoteric pamphlets and witch's simples, now overflowed with a cascade of soft toys, juice bottles, tissues, linen books for infants, […]

2003, Dolores Stewart Riccio, Charmed Circle, Kensington Books, →ISBN, page 12:

(pharmacology) A herbal preparation made from one plant, as opposed to something made from more than one plant.


ice

Bislama: aes

→ Brunei Malay: ais

→ Japanese: アイス (aisu)

→ Korean: 아이스 (aiseu)

→ Malay: ais

→ Marshallese: aej, aij

→ Sinhalese: අයිස් (ayis)

→ Tokelauan: aiha

From Middle English is, from Old English īs (“ice”), from Proto-West Germanic *īs, from Proto-Germanic *īsą (“ice”) from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyH- (“ice, frost”).
Cognates
See also Saterland Frisian Íes, West Frisian iis, Dutch ijs, German Low German Ies, German Eis, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish is; also Lithuanian ýnis (“glazed frost”), Russian и́ней (ínej, “hoarfrost”), Ossetian их (ix), ех (ex, “ice”), Persian یخ (yax), Northern Kurdish qeş. Superseded non-native Middle English glace (“ice”), borrowed from Old French glace (“ice”).

There were times when she could tell the Washingtons were overwhelmed by Jahlil's difficult ways, and one time Jessie even had the nerve to ask Carmiesha if she had smoked anything like crack or ice while she was pregnant with him.

2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 122:

(drugs) The crystal form of amphetamine-based drugs.


sovereign

en-adj

sovereign (comparative more sovereign, superlative most sovereign)

more sovereign (comparative)
most sovereign (superlative)
soveraign (alternative archaic)
soveraigne (alternative archaic)
sovran (alternative archaic)
sovring (alternative pronunciation-spelling)
sovrin (alternative pronunciation-spelling)

From Middle English sovereyn, from Old French soverain (whence also modern French souverain), from Vulgar Latin *superānus (compare Italian sovrano, Spanish soberano) from Latin super (“above”). Spelling influenced by folk-etymology association with reign. Doublet of soprano, from the same Latin root via Italian. See also suzerain, foreign.

The ſoueraigne weede betwixt two marbles plaine
 She pownded ſmall, and did in peeces bruze,
 And then atweene her lilly handes twaine,
 Into his wound the iuyce thereof did ſcruze […]

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

Homer of Moly and Nepenthe singes:
 Moly, the gods most soveraigne hearbe divine.
 Nepenth Hellen's drink, which gladnes brings,—
 Hart's greife repells, and doth yᵉ witts refine.

1876, John Davies, “[Tobacco.]”, in Alexander B[alloch] Grosart, editor, The Complete Poems of Sir John Davies. Edited, with Memorial-Introduction and Notes, by the Rev. Alexander B. Grosart. In Two Volumes (Early English Poets), volume II, London: Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly, →OCLC, page 226:

a sovereign remedy

1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page number):

Such a sovereign influence has this passion upon the regulation of the lives and actions of men.

1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:

In Spain people still bathe in the sea or roll naked in the dew of the meadows on St. John’s Eve, believing that this is a sovereign preservative against diseases of the skin.

1900, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 3, page 297:

(now rare, pharmacology) Extremely potent or effective (of a medicine, remedy etc.).


synergy

en-noun

synergy (countable and uncountable, plural synergies)

/ˈsɪnəɹd͡ʒi/

From Ancient Greek συνεργία (sunergía, “cooperation”), from σύν (sún, “with, together”) + ἔργον (érgon, “work”).

der

(pharmacology) The combined action of two or more drugs where the effects are stronger than their mere sum.


GB

Goofballs usually produce a quiet drowsiness, but also at times a tense aggressiveness that can be frighteningly unpredictable. Irene's behavior when she is high on GBs, which is most of the time, has created such havoc in the neighborhood restaurants that they no longer let her in.

1965 February 26, James Mills, “The World of Needle Park”, in Time, volume 58, number 8, page 82:

(informal, pharmacology) Initialism of goofball (“barbiturate”).


ABC

en-noun

ABC (countable and uncountable, plural ABCs)

(pharmacology) Abbreviation of abacavir.

(pharmacology) Initialism of accelerated blood clearance.


lithium

lithium (countable and uncountable, plural lithiums)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-lithium.wav

From New Latin lithium, from Ancient Greek λίθος (líthos, “stone”) + -ium.

There's more: Part of the reason I am so meek is that I stopped taking my lithium a few weeks before. It's not that I have a death wish, and it's not that I'm like Axl Rose and think that lithium makes me less manly (he supposedly stopped taking it after his first wife told him that his dick wasn't as hard as it used to be and that sex with him was lousy;[…]).

1994, Elizabeth Wurtzel, Prozac Nation: Young and Depressed in America, Houghton Mifflin, →ISBN, page 4:

Lithium has been used as a mood stabiliser for 50 years but its action mechanism is still unclear.

2008, Barbara Kozier, Fundamentals of Nursing: Concepts, Process and Practice, Pearson Education, →ISBN, page 191:

(pharmacology, uncountable) Lithium carbonate or other preparations of lithium metal used as a mood stabiliser to treat manic depression and bipolar disorders.


mission

mission (countable and uncountable, plural missions)

Learned borrowing from Latin missiō, missiōnem (“a sending, sending away, dispatching, discharging, release, remission, cessation”).


acetanilide

en-noun

acetanilide (countable and uncountable, plural acetanilides)

(organic chemistry, pharmacology) the amide derived from acetic acid and aniline; once used medicinally as an analgesic and antipyretic


antifebrine

(pharmacology) A compound of aniline with acetyl, used to allay fever or pain.


mercurial

mercurials (plural)
mercuriall (alternative)
☿ial (alternative)
☿all (alternative)

/məːˈkjʊə.ɹɪ.əl/

Noun sense 1 (“(obsolete) plant known as mercury”) is from Middle English mercurial, from Anglo-Norman mercurial and Old French mercurial, or directly from their etymon, from Mercurius (“the Roman god Mercury”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship from nouns).
Later adjective and noun uses may have been directly derived from Latin mercuriālis, whence Middle English mercurial (“under the astrological influence of the planet Mercury”).

ref

From the collection of the Wellcome Library in London, England, UK.

cog

She had paſſed through the milder Remedies frequently without ſucceſs: upon which account I deſigned Mercurialls; and beginning with Venæſection, afterwards purged her with decoct. epithymi, as it is preſcribed in the method of Cure. [...] After I had thus evacuated the Plethora, and diſpoſed her body for Mercurialls more operative, I gave her each morning and evening a few grains of Mercur. diaphoret. in a bolus with conſ. lujule and Mithridate, [...]

1676, Richard Wiseman, “Of Lepra, or Elephantiasis”, in Several Chirurgicall Treatises, London: Printed by E. Flesher and J[ohn] Macock, for R[ichard] Royston […], and B[enjamin] Took […], →OCLC, 1st book (A Treatise of Tumours), page 139:

[A] small dose of the mercurial may cause excessive salivation; and, if this discharge be attended by much soreness of throat, it is most difficult to determine whether the salivation is actually the result of the mercurial, or merely symptomatic of the sore throat and cold. If it proceed from the mercurial, there will generally be some tenderness of the gums, a soft and flabby state of the sides of the tongue, and it will generally be more obstinate.

1858, James Copland, “POISONS—Poisoning—Poisoned—Symptoms and Treatment of”, in A Dictionary of Practical Medicine. […] In Three Volumes, volume III, part I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts, →OCLC, paragraph 580, pages 413–414:

(pharmacology, historical) A preparation of mercury, especially as a treatment for syphilis.


bang

en-verb

bang (third-person singular simple present bangs, present participle banging, simple past and past participle banged)

bangs (present singular third-person)
banging (participle present)
banged (participle past)
banged (past)
bang (infinitive)
bang (first-person present singular)
banged (first-person past singular)
bang (present second-person singular)
bangest (archaic present second-person singular)
banged (past second-person singular)
bangedst (archaic past second-person singular)
bangs (present singular third-person)
bangeth (archaic present singular third-person)
banged (past singular third-person)
bang (plural present)
banged (past plural)
bang (present subjunctive)
banged (past subjunctive)
bang (imperative present)
banging (participle present)
banged (participle past)
bangue (alternative)

From Middle English *bangen, from Old English *bangian or borrowed from Old Norse banga (“to pound, hammer”); both from Proto-Germanic *bangōną (“to beat, pound”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰen- (“to beat, hit, injure”). Cognate with Scots bang, bung (“to strike, bang, hurl, thrash, offend”), Icelandic banga (“to pound, hammer”), Old Swedish bånga ("to hammer"; whence modern Swedish banka (“to knock, pound, bang”)), Danish banke (“to beat”), bengel (“club”), Low German bangen, bangeln (“to strike, beat”), West Frisian bingel, bongel, Dutch bengel (“bell; rascal”), German Bengel (“club”), bungen (“to throb, pulsate”).
In the sense of a fringe of hair, from bang off.
In the sense of abrupt left turn, from Boston left and associated risk of a crash.

gl

"to hammer"; whence modern Swedish <i class="Latn mention" lang="sv">banka</i> (“to knock, pound, bang”)

Audio (US)

Do you smoke meth? No, I bang it.

(transitive, slang, drugs) To inject intravenously.


aspirin

en-noun

aspirin (countable and uncountable, plural aspirins)

Genericized trademark of German Aspirin, from acetylierte Spirsäure (literally “acetylated spiraeic acid”). The trade name Aspirin is a registered trademark in some countries, but has entered the English language in generic usage, as various German trademarks were nullified in the United States after World War I (see also heroin).

acetylsalicylic acid
acetylsalicylic acid

(uncountable, organic chemistry, pharmacology) an analgesic drug, acetylsalicylic acid


soporific

soporifics (plural)
soporifick (alternative obsolete)

/ˌsəʊ.pəˈɹɪf.ɪk/

From French soporifique, from Latin sopor (“deep sleep”). Unrelated to stupor (distinct in Proto-Indo-European).

The doctor prescribed a soporific to help the patient sleep.

And ancient soporifics—such as poisonous leaves and various opiate concoctions—were roughly as likely to kill you as they were to induce REM.

2022 January 27, Derek Thompson, “Can Medieval Sleeping Habits Fix America’s Insomnia?”, in The Atlantic:

(pharmacology) Something inducing sleep, especially a drug.


soporific

en-adj

soporific (comparative more soporific, superlative most soporific)

more soporific (comparative)
most soporific (superlative)
soporifick (alternative obsolete)

/ˌsəʊ.pəˈɹɪf.ɪk/

For we are not here to understand, as perhaps some have, that an author actually falls asleep while he is writing. It is true, that readers are too apt to be so overtaken; […]To say the truth, these soporific parts are so many scenes of serious artfully interwoven, in order to contrast and set off the rest;

1749, Henry Fielding, chapter I, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book V:

It is said that the effect of eating too much lettuce is “soporific.” I have never felt sleepy after eating lettuces; but then I am not a rabbit. They certainly had a very soporific effect upon the Flopsy Bunnies!

1909, Beatrix Potter, The Tale of The Flopsy Bunnies:

I should imagine that the smooth riding and the quietness of the diesel or electric cab, coupled with the effect on the eyes of endless successions of sleepers disappearing from sight immediately under the driver's eyes, might in time have a soporific effect, so that the company of a second man, who can assist in signal observations when he is not at work in the engine cab, seems highly desirable in such conditions.

1961 July, Cecil J. Allen, “Locomotive Running Past and Present”, in Trains Illustrated, page 401:


toxic

toxic (comparative more toxic, superlative most toxic)

more toxic (comparative)
most toxic (superlative)

Borrowed from French toxique, from Late Latin toxicus (“poisoned”), from Latin toxicum (“poison”), from Ancient Greek τοξικόν (toxikón) [φάρμακον (phármakon)] ("poison for use on arrows"), from τοξικός (toxikós, “pertaining to arrows or archery”), from τόξον (tóxon, “bow”).

Tobacco smoke contains many toxic substances.

If some types of electronic waste aren’t incinerated at a high enough temperature, dioxins, which can cause cancer and developmental problems, infiltrate the food supply. Without proper safeguarding, toxic heavy metals seep into the soil and groundwater.

2019 December 8, Hannah Beech, Ryn Jirenuwat, “The Price of Recycling Old Laptops: Toxic Fumes in Thailand’s Lungs”, in New York Times:

(toxicology, pharmacology) Having a chemical nature that is harmful to health or lethal if consumed or otherwise entering into the body in sufficient quantities.


evergreen

en-verb

evergreen (third-person singular simple present evergreens, present participle evergreening, simple past and past participle evergreened)

evergreens (present singular third-person)
evergreening (participle present)
evergreened (participle past)
evergreened (past)

(patent law, pharmaceuticals) To extend the term of a patent beyond the normal legal limit, usually through repeated small modifications.


carburetor

carburetors (plural)
carburator (alternative)
carburettor (alternative)
carbureter (alternative)
carburetter (alternative)

/ˈkɑːb(j)əˌɹɛtə/

Attested from 1862, from carburet (“enrich an illuminating gas with carbon-rich fuel”) + -or. The motor vehicle sense is attested since 1896

affix

carburet<t:enrich an illuminating gas with carbon-rich fuel>

Variations on the bong included air-driven pipes, electric pipes, ice pipes (chillers), mask pipes, chamber pipes, and carburetor pipes.

1989, United States International Trade Commission, Importation of certain drug paraphernalia into the United States, page 8:

Some pipes feature a “carburetor,” which is a small hole in the air chamber located past the bowl. The carburetor is held shut while the bowl is being lit and the smoke drawn.

2008, Dale Gieringer, Ed Rosenthal, Gregory Carter, Marijuana Medical Handbook, page 172:

en:any of certain types of drug paraphernalia

(slang, drugs) A water pipe or bong; a device or contrivance for mixing air with burning cannabis or cocaine.


vehicle

Borrowed from French véhicule, from Latin vehiculum (“a carriage, conveyance”), from vehere (“to carry”).

uder

an ointment with a petrolatum vehicle

(pharmaceuticals) The main excipient (such as an oil or gel) that conveys the active ingredient of a drug.


grasshopper

/ˈɡɹɑːsˌhɒpə(ɹ)/

/ɡɹæsˌhɒpə(ɹ)/

/ˈɡɹæsˌhɑpəɹ/

From Middle English grashoppere, alteration of earlier grashoppe, from Old English græshoppa (“grasshopper”). Equivalent to grass + hopper. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Gäärshupper, Dutch grashupper, grashipper, German Low German Grashüpper, Gresshüpper, German Grashüpfer, Danish græshoppe, Swedish gräshoppa, Norwegian gresshoppe.

(slang, drugs) A frequent user of marijuana.


agonize

en-verb

agonize (third-person singular simple present agonizes, present participle agonizing, simple past and past participle agonized)

agonizes (present singular third-person)
agonizing (participle present)
agonized (participle past)
agonized (past)
agonise (alternative)

From French agoniser, from Late Latin agonizare, from Ancient Greek ἀγωνίζομαι (agōnízomai, “to fight, contend”). See agony.

der

(transitive, biochemistry, pharmacology) To act as an agonist upon; to combine with a receptor on a cell to produce a physiological reaction.


drop

From Late Middle English droppe, Middle English drope (“small quantity of liquid; small or least amount of something; pendant jewel; dripping of a liquid; a shower; nasal flow, catarrh; speck, spot; blemish; disease causing spots on the skin”) [and other forms], from Old English dropa (“a drop”), from Proto-West Germanic *dropō (“drop (of liquid)”), from Proto-Germanic *drupô (“drop (of liquid)”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewb- (“to crumble, grind”).

nb...

dropan, droupe, (Northern England) droipe

piisk

very small quantity of liquid, or of anything

piisk

that which hangs or resembles a liquid globule

langemine

decline in degree, quality, quantity, or rate

afgrond

distance through which something drops, or falls below a certain level

My first treatment consisted of one eye drop in each eye which was supposed to determine the condition of the eye and make it easier to examine them the next day.

1986, Eugene Tinory, Journey from Ammeah: The Story of a Lebanese Immigrant, Brattleboro, Vt.: Amana Books, →ISBN, page 96:

The eye is able to hold only about 20 percent of the amount of fluid in a standard eye drop. Therefore, put only one eye drop in your eye at a time. If you have been instructed to use more than one eye drop, wait about 5 minutes between the drops. This will allow more of the drops to be absorbed and will reduce waste.

2009, Mark A[llan] Goldstein, Myrna Chandler Goldstein, Larry P. Credit, “Glaucoma [Tipes for Using Eye Drops]”, in Your Best Medicine: From Conventional and Complementary Medicine—Expert-endorsed Therapeutic Solutions to Relieve Symptoms and Speed Healing, New York, N.Y.: Rodale Books, →ISBN, part 2 (The Best Medicine for 81 Common Health Concerns), page 234, column 1:

(also figuratively) A small quantity of liquid, just large enough to hold its own round shape through surface tension, especially one that falls from a source of liquid.

(pharmacology) A dose of liquid medicine in the form of a drop (sense 1).

tilk

ear drops    eye drops

(pharmacology, chiefly in the plural) A liquid medicine that is intended to be administered in drops (sense 1).

tippa

liquid medicine intended to be administered in drops


ASA

acetylsalicylic acid
acetylsalicylic acid#English

(pharmacology, uncountable) Initialism of acetylsalicylic acid (“aspirin”).


alcohol

en-noun

alcohol (countable and uncountable, plural alcohols)

→ Arabic: كُحُول (kuḥūl)

→ Korean: 알코올 (alkool), 알콜 (alkol)

→ Malay: alkohol

→ Swahili: alkoholi

→ Tok Pisin: alkohol

First attested in the 15th century from Middle English alcofol, from Middle French alcohol or Spanish alcohol, derived from the Medieval Latin rendering alcohol transmitted in medical or alchemical literature of Arabic اَلْكُحْل (al-kuḥl, “kohl”), which in Andalusian Arabic also bore the form كُحُول (kuḥūl), قُحُول (quḥūl); bearing thus the meaning of stibnite first, then generalized in meaning to a powder obtained by triturating a material, then also to liquids obtained by boiling down, and specialized to mean spirit of wine, ethanol, in the 18th century, then the narrow chemical sense after 1850. Doublet of alcool and kohl.
Various old etymological notes.
* Bartholomew Traheron in his 1543 translation of John of Vigo introduces the word as a term used by "barbarous" (Moorish) authors for "fine powder": the barbarous auctours use alcohol, or (as I fynde it sometymes wryten) alcofoll, for moost fine poudre.
* William Johnson in his 1657 Lexicon Chymicum glosses the word as antimonium sive stibium. By extension, the word came to refer to any fluid obtained by distillation, including "alcohol of wine", the distilled essence of wine.
* Libavius in Alchymia (1594) has vini alcohol vel vinum alcalisatum.
* Johnson (1657) glosses alcohol vini as quando omnis superfluitas vini a vino separatur, ita ut accensum ardeat donec totum consumatur, nihilque fæcum aut phlegmatis in fundo remaneat.
* Some authorities, including Rachel Hajar, suggest that the ultimate etymon was the Arabic term اَلْغَوْل (al-ḡawl, “bad effect, evil result of headache”) (as used in Qur’an verse 37:47, but this word is rather poetical and could for topical reasons not have been picked up from Arabic by Medieval writers, and aside from that the relation to stibium is well documented.


off

(older Received Pronunciation, General American) -ɔːf

From Middle English of, from Old English of, af, æf (“from, off, away”), from Proto-West Germanic *ab, from Proto-Germanic *ab (“from”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epo (“from, off, back”). Doublet of of.
Cognates
Cognate with Scots of, af (“off, away”), West Frisian af, ôf (“off, away”), Dutch af (“off, from”), German Low German of (“off, from”), German ab (“off, from”), Danish af (“of, off”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish av (“of, off”), Icelandic af (“of, off”), Gothic 𐌰𐍆 (af, “of, from”); and with Latin ab (“of, from, by”), Ancient Greek ἀπό (apó, “from”), and others.

-sta

used to indicate the location or direction of one thing relative to another

The guy was off a perc.


agonist

→ Polish: agonista

Borrowed from Latin agōnista, from Ancient Greek ἀγωνιστής (agōnistḗs, “combatant, champion”). By surface analysis, agon or agony + -ist.

surf

Acetylcholine is an agonist at the cholinergic receptor.

(biochemistry, pharmacology) A molecule that can combine with a receptor on a cell to produce a physiological reaction.


chewing

en-noun

chewing (countable and uncountable, plural chewings)

From Middle English chewyng, chewynge, from Old English ċīwung, ċȳwung, ċēowung (“chewing”), equivalent to chew + -ing.

(drugs) The consumption of (the juice from) the khat plant.

(drugs) The consumption of loose leaf tobacco juice from tobacco plants by chewing leaves near the cheek.


bacitracin

bacitracin (countable and uncountable, plural bacitracins)

From translingual Baci(llus subtilis) + Tracy + -in. Named after American child Margaret Tracy (1936–1994), in whose leg infection the compound was first found.

named-after

Bacillus subtilis
Bacillus subtilis#Translingual

(pharmacology) A nonprescription polypeptide antibiotic isolated from a bacillus (Bacillus subtilis or Bacillus licheniformis), usually provided in topical ointment form especially against gram-positive bacteria.


cocaine

en-noun

cocaine (countable and uncountable, plural cocaines)

cocaines (plural)
cocain (alternative dated)
cocaïne (alternative dated)

/ˈkəʊkeɪˌʌɪn/

From coca + -ine, from Quechua kuka. First use appears c. 1874.

Holmes, who loathed every form of society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in Baker-street, buried among his old books, and alternating from week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature.

1891 June 25, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Adventure I.—A Scandal in Bohemia.”, in Geo[rge] Newnes, editor, The Strand Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly, volume II, London: George Newnes, Limited, […], published July 1891, →OCLC:

All I get, uh, is this cup of cold coffee and cocaine / And your ugly face, look out

1983, “Cold Coffee & Cocaine”, performed by Prince:

Cocaine’s awfully expensive stuff, isn't it? Is it worth it?

1990, Andrew Davies, Michael Dobbs, House of Cards, season 1, episode 1, spoken by Frank Urquhart (Ian Richardson):

(uncountable, organic chemistry, pharmacology) An addictive drug derived from coca (Erythroxylum) or prepared synthetically, used sometimes medicinally as a local anesthetic and, often illegally, as a stimulant.


barb

The benzos, it turns out, are just as highly addicting as the barbs, but they do have a much lower potential to cause death by overdose. […] The barbs became one of the most widely abused classes of drugs in the 1960s and 1970s.

1998, Jerry Dorsman, How to Quit Drugs for Good: A Complete Self-Help Guide, New York, NY: Three Rivers Press, →ISBN, page 50:


hormone

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ὁρμῶν (hormôn), present participle of ὁρμάω (hormáō, “to set in motion, to urge on”), from ὁρμή (hormḗ, “rapid motion forwards, onrush, onset, assault, impulse to do a thing, effort”).

hormon

synthetic compound with the same activity as a hormone

Tumours of the adrenal cortex which secreted feminizing hormones […]

Gender-affirming hormone therapy may involve testosterone for trans people assigned female at birth (AFAB) and estradiol and anti-androgens for trans people AMAB.

2021, Jane Y. Xu, Michelle A. O’Connell, Lauren Notini, Ada S. Cheung, Sav Zwickl, Ken C. Pang, “Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators: A Potential Option For Non-Binary Gender-Affirming Hormonal Care?”, in Front Endocrinol, →DOI:

(pharmacology) A synthetic compound with the same activity.

I'm going to be going to slightly higher doses of hormones soon.

hormone replacement therapy
hormone replacement therapy

(LGBTQ, colloquial, usually in the plural) Sex hormones, as used in hormone replacement therapy for transgender or intersex people.


carb

She lifted her thumb off the carb and breathed in the thick smoke.

(drugs) The hole on a pipe which is covered and opened to control the inflow of air.


sally

(slang, drugs, Canada, US) The crystalline or powdered form of MDA.


chit

From chitty, from Hindi चिट्ठी (ciṭṭhī, “letter, note, written message”). Doublet of cure.

bor

(pharmacology) A small sheet of paper on which is written a prescription to be filled; a scrip.


ligand

Borrowed from Latin ligandus, gerundive of ligo (“bind”).

ربيطة

something that binds to another chemical entity

(inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, physical chemistry) A molecule or moiety (ion, functional group, or radical) that binds to another chemical entity to form a larger complex; as, especially:

(biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology, medicine) Such an entity that forms a complex with a biomolecule to serve a biological purpose.


official

en-adj

official (comparative more official, superlative most official)

more official (comparative)
most official (superlative)

From Middle English official, from Old French official, from Latin officiālis, from Latin officium (“duty, service”), by surface analysis, office + -ial.

an official drug or preparation

(pharmacology) Sanctioned by the pharmacopoeia; appointed to be used in medicine; officinal.

(pharmacology) Listed in a national pharmacopeia.


serve

en-verb

serve (third-person singular simple present serves, present participle serving, simple past and past participle served)

serves (present singular third-person)
serving (participle present)
served (participle past)
served (past)

desc

→ Thai: เสิร์ฟ (sə̀əp)

→ Thai: เสิร์ฟ (sə̀əp)

From Middle English serven, from Old French servir, from Latin serviō (“be a slave; serve”), from Latin servus (“slave; servant”), which perhaps derives from Etruscan (compare Etruscan proper names 𐌔𐌄𐌓𐌅𐌉 (servi), 𐌔𐌄𐌓𐌅𐌄 (serve)), or from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“watch over, protect”).

Once I began selling crack, money was no issue. I would be out 2-3 days at a time, up for 24 hours a day. It was a full time job, serving crack fiends.

2006, Stacey Green, Inside...the Mind of a Man!, page 18:

Tim told her that she could make a little money on the side by serving crack-cocaine.

They'd serve cocaine, and you'd sit there, and base this cocaine. And you'd have an ounce gone in 24 hours.

2012, Diana Prince, Secret Lives: Real Lives in the World’S Oldest Profession:

When crews like the Supreme Team saw the effect of the powerful new drug on users, they streamlined their own operation to serve crack only.

2013, Seth Ferranti, The Supreme Team: The Birth of Crack and Hip-Hop, Prince’s Reign of Terror and the Supreme/50 Cent Beef Exposed:

(ambitransitive, slang, drugs) To provide crack cocaine (to), usually by selling, dealing, or distributing.


slam

en-verb

slam (third-person singular simple present slams, present participle slamming, simple past and past participle slammed)

slams (present singular third-person)
slamming (participle present)
slammed (participle past)
slammed (past)

From Middle English *slammen (not recorded), apparently from a Scandinavian source ultimately from Old Norse slæma, slœma (“to slam, swing a weapon, strike an object out of reach”), related to Old Norse slamra, slambra (“to slam”). Cognate with Norwegian Bokmål slamre (“to slam”), Swedish slamra (“to pound, beat, make a clatter, rattle”), Norwegian Nynorsk slamra (“to sway, dangle”).

правя капо

card games: to defeat by winning all the tricks

I mentioned earlier how many people will draw lines in the sand that they'll never cross: some won't try Tina, others will never slam.

2017, James Wharton, Something for the Weekend, Biteback Publishing, →ISBN:

(ambitransitive, drugs, slang) To inject intravenously; shoot up.


treacle

en-noun

treacle (countable and uncountable, plural treacles)

From Middle English triacle, partly from Old French triacle, and partly from Old English tyriaca, both from Late Latin *triaca, *tiriaca, late form of theriaca, ultimately from Ancient Greek θηριακή (thēriakḗ, “antidote”), feminine form of θηριακός (thēriakós, “concerning venomous beasts”), from θήρ (thḗr, “beast”). Doublet of theriacle, equivalent to theriac + -le.

der

(historical, pharmacology) Synonym of theriac: an antidote for poison, especially snakebite; a supposedly universal antidote.

(obsolete, figurative, by extension) Synonym of cure: an all-powerful curative for some particular affliction.

cure

(obsolete, figurative, by extension) Synonym of cure-all: a panacea for all human ailments.

CHEWING-BALLS, a kind of balls made of aſafœtida, liver of antimony, bay-wood, juniper-wood, and pellitory of Spain; which being dried in the ſun, and wrapped in a linen-cloth, are tied to the bit of the bridle for the horſe to chew: they create an appetite; and it is ſaid, that balls of Venice treacle may be uſed in the ſame manner with good ſucceſs.

1771, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1st ed., volume II, page 183:


ODT

Controlled release (CR), modified release (MR), orally disintegrating tablets (ODT), and other innovative dosage forms are still of interest to both pharmaceutical producers and suppliers.

2014 April, Ken Seufert, “The New Dawn of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing: Innovative Solutions for Unprecedented Challenges”, in American Pharmaceutical Review, 17(3):8:

orally disintegrating tablet
orally disintegrating tablet#English

(pharmacology, medicine) Initialism of orally disintegrating tablet.


blues

en-noun

blues (countable and uncountable, plural blues)

→ Catalan: blues

→ Danish: blues

→ Finnish: blues

→ French: blues

→ Hungarian: blues

→ Icelandic: blús

→ Italian: blues

→ Portuguese: blues

→ Spanish: blues

→ Swedish: blues

(drugs, slang) Any of various blue pills sold on the street, mimicking the appearance of prescription pain killer tablets.


cookie

cookies (plural)
cookey (alternative uncommon)
cooky (alternative uncommon)

→ Arabic: كُوكِي (kuki)

→ Armenian: կուկի (kuki)

→ Cantonese: 曲奇 (kuk¹ kei⁴)

→ Mandarin: 曲奇 (qūqí)

→ Catalan: cookie

→ Cebuano: kokis

→ Dutch: cookie

→ French: cookie

→ Georgian: ქუქი (kuki)

→ German: Cookie

→ Gujarati: કૂકી (kūkī)

→ Hawaiian: kuki

→ Hindi: कुकी (kukī)

→ Italian: cookie

→ Japanese: クッキー (kukkī)

→ Kannada: ಕುಕಿ (kuki)

→ Khmer: ខូគី (khoukii)

→ Korean: 쿠키 (kuki)

→ Malay: kuki

→ Polish: cookie

→ Portuguese: cookie

→ Russian: ку́ки (kúki)

→ Spanish: cookie

→ Swahili: kuki

→ Swedish: cookie

→ Tagalog: kuki

→ Telugu: కుకీ (kukī)

→ Thai: คุกกี้ (kúk-gîi)

→ Tigrinya: ኩኪ (kuki)

→ Ukrainian: ку́ки (kúky)

→ Yiddish: קוקי (kuki)

→ Yoruba: kúkì

Borrowed from Dutch koekie, dialectal diminutive of koek (“cake”), from Proto-Germanic *kōkô (compare German Low German Kookje (“biscuit, cookie, cracker”), Low German Kook (“cake”), German Kuchen (“cake”)). More at cake. Not related to English cook.
The computing senses derive from magic cookie.

koekie

small, flat baked good — see also biscuit

(slang, drugs) A piece of crack cocaine, larger than a rock, and often in the shape of a cookie.


adjuvant

From Latin adiuvāns, present participle of adiuvāre (“to help”), from ad (“to”) + iuvāre (“to help”). Doublet of adjutant.

(pharmacology) An additive (as in a drug) that aids or modifies the action of the principal ingredient. [from 19th c.]

adjuvans

pharmacology: additive that aids or modifies the action of the principal ingredient


emetic

en-adj

emetic (comparative more emetic, superlative most emetic)

more emetic (comparative)
most emetic (superlative)
emetick (alternative)

From French émétique, from Vulgar Latin *emeticus, from Ancient Greek ἐμετικός (emetikós), from ἔμετος (émetos, “vomit”); by surface analysis, em(esis) + -etic.

(pharmacology) Causing nausea and vomiting.


emetic

As Jan McTavish notes, when the physician diagnosed the headache's origins in the digestive system, particularly constipation, the antidote might entail cathartics (substances that accelerate defecation) or emetics (inducers of vomiting) and other regulators of the digestive process.

2022, Seth Garfield, Guaraná […] , Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, →ISBN:

(pharmacology) An agent that induces vomiting.


dopamine

en-noun

dopamine (countable and uncountable, plural dopamines)

From DOPA (“dihydroxyphenylalanine”) + -amine.

af

Epinephrine and dopamine are two other catecholamine transmitters.

1988, Lubert Stryer, Biochemistry, 3rd edition, page 1025:

“The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works: no civil discourse, no cooperation, misinformation, mistruth. And it’s not an American problem. This is not about Russian ads. This is a global problem.”

2017 December 12, Amy B Wang, “Former Facebook VP says social media is destroying society with ‘dopamine-driven feedback loops’”, in The Washington Post:

(biochemistry, pharmacology) A monoamine C₈H₁₁NO₂ that is a decarboxylated form of dopa, present in the body as a neurotransmitter and a precursor of other substances including adrenalin.


tutti-frutti

en-noun

tutti-frutti (countable and uncountable, plural tutti-fruttis)

tutti-fruttis (plural)
tutti frutti (alternative)

From Sicilian tutti frutti (“all fruits”), so attested in 1838 for a kind of sorbet.

(New Zealand, drugs) A type of inhalable, powdered drug.


barbie

Clipping of barbiturate + -ie (diminutive suffix).

“At nights,” she says, “we were both in our own little worlds, him with his alcohol and me with my barbies.”

1971, The Bulletin, volume 93, numbers 4762–4774, page 35:

Then one day the King said, / Jules, you're grounded. / Absolutely grounded. / This is it. So Jules took / barbies, you know, barbiturates, / and he stayed down. Way down. / Grounded like his father said.

1989, The Pembroke Magazine, volumes 21–23, page 162:


placebo effect

(medicine, especially pharmacology) A phenomenon where a person's health improves after receiving a treatment that has no direct therapeutic mechanism.

placebo-effect

tendency for a substance to exhibit results due to belief of the recipient


antitussive

Coordinate term: protussive

(pharmacology) A cough suppressant or a drug that inhibits coughing.

antitusikum

a cough suppressant or a drug that inhibits coughing


antitussive

en-adj

antitussive (comparative more antitussive, superlative most antitussive)

more antitussive (comparative)
most antitussive (superlative)

Coordinate term: protussive

(pharmacology) Having cough suppressant abilities.


unofficial

unofficial (comparative more unofficial, superlative most unofficial)

more unofficial (comparative)
most unofficial (superlative)

(pharmacology) Not listed in a national pharmacopeia etc.


narcotic

narcotics (plural)
narcotick (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English narcotyk, from Middle French narcotique (from Old French narcotique, noun use of adjective) and directly from Medieval Latin narcōticum, from Ancient Greek ναρκωτῐκόν (narkōtĭkón), neuter of ναρκωτῐκός (narkōtĭkós), from Ancient Greek ναρκόω (narkóō, “to benumb”), from νάρκη (nárkē, “numbness, torpor”).

der

"Real San Juan Colorado," he said. "Excitable people like you are the better for narcotics. Heavens! don't bite it! Cut - and cut with reverence!"

1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

In 2016, the CDC established guidelines for prescribing narcotics for chronic pain.

2017 March 20, Nadia Kounang, “Prescriptions may hold clues to who gets hooked on opioids, study says”, in CNN:

The State Department has given Ecuador $81 million since 2018 to help the country with its fight against organized crime and narcotics.

2025 March 19, Hira Humayun and Michael Rios, “Ecuador’s president invites foreign armies to fight gangs in the country”, in CNN:

(pharmacology) Any substance or drug that reduces pain, induces sleep and may alter mood or behaviour; in some contexts, especially in reference to the opiates-and-opioids class, especially in reference to illegal drugs, and often both.


narcotic

en-adj

narcotic (comparative more narcotic, superlative most narcotic)

more narcotic (comparative)
most narcotic (superlative)
narcotick (alternative obsolete)

From Middle French narcotique or German narkotisch and directly from Medieval Latin narcōticus, from Ancient Greek ναρκωτῐκός (narkōtĭkós).

The duration of a prescription may give clues into how long a person ends up using a narcotic painkiller, a new study finds.

(pharmacology) Inducing sleep; causing narcosis.


external

external (comparative more external, superlative most external)

more external (comparative)
most external (superlative)
externall (alternative)

From Late Middle English, from Medieval Latin externus (“outward, external”), from exter/exterus (“on the outside, outward”).

der

(pharmacology, relational) Relating to or denoting a medicine or similar substance for use on the outside of the body.


cyclopropane

en-noun

cyclopropane (countable and uncountable, plural cyclopropanes)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-cyclopropane.wav

(organic chemistry, pharmacology) The simplest alicyclic hydrocarbon, C₃H₆, an inflammable gas, sometimes used as an anaesthetic.

cyclopropaan

the simplest alicyclic hydrocarbon, C3H6


blackjack

blackjack (countable and uncountable, plural blackjacks)

blackjacks (plural)
black jack (alternative)
black-jack (alternative)

→ Polish: blackjack

"Next!" steps gingerly in to confront the medical eye fastened questioningly upon him. "Crook in the guts," he says tersely. The picturesque reports of previously treated and disgusted patients - have left him doubtful, and he casts, an anathematising eye upon the "Black Jack" bottle. "Tabloids and duty!" says the doctor, and the sufferer sighs with relief.

1914 October 11, The Sunday Times, Perth, Australia, page 1, column 9:

I remember Black Jack very well and actually like the smell. It is no longer available with that trade name but glycerine of ichthammol can still be bought in chemists.

2010 October 19, John Davies, birminghamhistory.co.uk:

Used to be called Black Jack think my mom had an ancient jar in her medicine cupboard.

2008 September 19, stef240377, MoneySavingExpert.com:

(pharmacology, UK, Australia, rare) Ammonium bituminosulfonate.


half-life

For nonporous surfaces such as steel, in a dark and low-humidity environment, the CCP virus has an 18-hour half-life—the time required for it to decrease by half , according to the researchers' findings.

2020, Dr. Alan Pateman, China, Covid-19, World Domination, Lulu Press, Inc, →ISBN:

(medicine, pharmacology) The time it takes for a substance (drug, radioactive nuclide, or other) to lose half of its pharmacological, physiologic, or radiological activity.

semivida

medicine: time for a substance to lose half of its activity


opiate

From Middle English opiate, from Medieval Latin opiātus.

(pharmacology) Relating to, resembling, or containing opium.


opiate

(pharmacology) A drug, hormone or other substance derived from or related to opium.


morphine

morphine (countable and uncountable, plural morphines)

morphines (plural)
morphin (alternative obsolete)
morphina (alternative obsolete)

Borrowed from French morphine or German Morphin, from Ancient Greek Μορφεύς (Morpheús, “the god and personification of dreams”).

der

(biochemistry, pharmacology) A crystalline alkaloid (4,5-epoxy-17-methyl-7,8-didehydromorphinan-3,6-diol), extracted from opium, the salts of which are soluble in water and are used as analgesics, anaesthetics and sedatives; it is one of a group of morphine alkaloids.


codeine

en-noun

codeine (countable and uncountable, plural codeines)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-codeine.wav

From French codéine, from Ancient Greek κώδεια (kṓdeia, “capsule of the poppy, poppy head”) + -ine.

af

(pharmacology) An addictive alkaloid narcotic derived from opium and used as a hypnotic, analgesic and antitussive; often mixed with aspirin etc.


papaverine

en-noun

papaverine (countable and uncountable, plural papaverines)

(organic chemistry, pharmacology) A nonaddictive derivative of opium used in medicine to relieve muscle spasms, as a vasodilator and in some forms of erectile dysfunction.


vasodilator

(biochemistry, organic chemistry, pharmacology) A drug or chemical agent that causes dilation of the blood vessels thereby reducing blood pressure.


hypnotic

en-adj

hypnotic (comparative more hypnotic, superlative most hypnotic)

more hypnotic (comparative)
most hypnotic (superlative)
hypnotick (alternative obsolete)

[hɪp̚ˈnɑ.ɾɪk̚]

From French hypnotique (“inclined to sleep, soporific”), from Late Latin hypnoticus, from Ancient Greek ὑπνωτικός (hupnōtikós, “inclined to sleep, putting to sleep, sleepy”), from ὑπνῶ (hupnô, “I put to sleep”), from ὕπνος (húpnos, “sleep”).

der

(pharmacology) Inducing sleep; soporific.


hypnotic

hypnotics (plural)
hypnotick (alternative obsolete)

[hɪp̚ˈnɑ.ɾɪk̚]


neurotoxin

There were stretches of days when the lakes were closed because of the algae. It sometimes secreted neurotoxins that could be fatal.

2020, Brandon Taylor, Real Life, Daunt Books Originals, page 31:

(neuroscience, toxicology, pharmacology) A toxin that specifically acts upon neurons, their synapses, or the nervous system in its entirety.


psychoactive

en-adj

psychoactive (comparative more psychoactive, superlative most psychoactive)

more psychoactive (comparative)
most psychoactive (superlative)

LSD and DMT are psychoactive drugs.

(pharmacology) Affecting the mind or mental processes.

въздействащ на психиката

pharmacology: affecting the mind or mental processes


psychoactive

LSD and DMT are psychoactives.

(pharmacology) Any drug that affects the mind or mental processes.


anodyne

anodyne (comparative more anodyne, superlative most anodyne)

more anodyne (comparative)
most anodyne (superlative)

From Middle English anodine, from Medieval Latin anōdynos (“stilling or relieving pain”), from Ancient Greek ἀνώδυνος (anṓdunos, “free from pain”), from ἀν- (an-, “without”) + ὀδύνη (odúnē, “pain”).
Adjective sense “noncontentious” probably through French anodin (“harmless, trivial”), of same origin.

der

Many a time has the vapor of ether been inhaled for the relief of oppressed lungs; many a time has the sought relief been thus obtained; and just so many times has the discovery of the wonderful anodyne properties of this gas, as affecting all bodily suffering, been brushed past and overlooked.

1847 June 12, Littell's Living Age, volume 13, number 161, page 483:

The citrate is the most efficient as an alkali, but irritates some stomachs, the liquor the most anodyne, the acetate the most diuretic.

1910, Edward L. Keyes, Diseases of the Genito-Urinary Organs, page 211:

(pharmacology) Capable of soothing or eliminating pain.


anodyne

(pharmacology) Any medicine or other agent that relieves pain.

болкоуспокояващо

any medicine or other agent that relieves pain


paracetamol

en-noun

paracetamol (countable and uncountable, plural paracetamols)

paracetamols (plural)
acetaminophen (alternative Canada US)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-paracetamol.wav

(pharmacology) A synthetic compound used as a drug to relieve and reduce fever, usually taken in tablet form.


smurf

Peyo
The Smurfs
fr:Les Schtroumpfs
nl:De Smurfen

Borrowed from Dutch smurf (via the Belgian comic De Smurfen, a translation of French Les Schtroumpfs), from French schtroumpf, a word that was created by Peyo based on German Strumpf (literally “stocking, sock”), either simply because it sounds funny to the French ear or based on a regional German use for “idiot”. Armand van Raalte was an employee for the Belgian publisher of Peyo's stories who felt that schtroumpf would not have the same effect in Dutch, so he tried to find a simple word that could be used both as a noun and a verb. The result was smurf. In other languages, the term was similarly altered; compare the translations below.

der

Each smurf goes to different banks and purchases cashier's checks in denominations of less than $ 10,000, thus bypassing the reporting requirement.

1998, Michael D. Lyman, Gary W. Potter, Drugs in Society: Causes, Concepts, and Control, page 202:

Once the checks and money orders were purchased, the smurfs delivered them to Barrera, who arranged deposits of multiple checks and money orders into bank accounts that he controlled for further transfer to accounts in Panama, Colombia, and elsewhere.

2001, Robert E. Grosse, Drugs and Money: Laundering Latin America's Cocaine Dollars, page 73:

The local cooks would get some smurfs to buy boxes of Sudafed at all the drugstores in a hundred-mile radius, then pay them off in product.

2020, David Heska Wanbli Weiden, Winter Counts, page 22:

(law enforcement, drugs, slang) One member of a team, each of whom acquires a small amount of money or ingredients for manufacturing drugs, keeping the transactions too small in order to not raise suspicion.


SAR

en-noun

SAR (countable and uncountable, plural SARs)

structure-activity relationship
structure-activity relationship#English

(pharmacology) Initialism of structure-activity relationship.


MLS

MLS (countable and uncountable, plural MLSs)

(pharmacology) Initialism of macrolide, lincosamide, and streptogramin.


narc

Clipping of narcotics (control) officer.

(informal, colloquial, drugs) A police officer or federal agent assigned to or engaging in illegal narcotics control.


narc

Alternative spelling of nark, influenced by narc (“narcotics officer”).

(informal, colloquial, drugs) Alternative spelling of nark (“spy”).


narc

en-verb

narc (third-person singular simple present narcs, present participle narcing, simple past and past participle narced)

narcs (present singular third-person)
narcing (participle present)
narced (participle past)
narced (past)

(informal, colloquial, drugs) Alternative spelling of nark.


quinine

en-noun

quinine (countable and uncountable, plural quinines)

The noun is either:
* derived from Spanish quina (“quinine”) (a clipping of quinaquina (“Cinchona bark”)) + English -ine (suffix forming names of chemical substances, especially (among others) alkaloidal substances); or
* borrowed from French quinine, from quin(quina) (“Cinchona bark”) + -ine (feminine form of -in (suffix forming nouns)).
Spanish quinaquina and French quinquina are both derived from Quechua kina-kina, a reduplication of kina (“bark; (specifically) Cinchona bark”).
The verb is derived from the noun.

clipping

The alkali of yellow bark may be distinguished from cinchonine by the name of quinine.

1821, The Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature, and the Arts, volume 10:

The quinine, being more potent than cinchonine, is generally preferred.

1828, The Medical Guide, Quinine, cinchonine, and sulphate of quinine:

In spite of quinine, the men sickened day by day. Many of them, fine, strong, active fellows, who had never known what a day's sickness meant, went down before the malarious mist that gathered in the jungles.

1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 102:

He hadn't the faintest idea what to do with a cold in the head, he just took quinine and continued to blow his nose.

1922, Michael Arlen, “2/9/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, London: W[illiam] Collins Sons & Co., →OCLC:

“Die? Yes, they’ll all die—all these men. No bandages, no salves, no quinine, no chloroform. Oh, God, for some morphia! Just a little morphia for the worst ones. Just a little chloroform. God damn the Yankees! God damn the Yankees!”

1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, 1944, →OCLC, part IV, page 363:

I propose that the availability of increased stores of quinine under British control had a similar facilitating effect on the British colonial expansion into Africa in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

1979, Lucile H. Brockway, Science and Colonial Expansion, New Haven, Conn., London: Yale University Press, published 2002, →ISBN, page 127:

So far, the daily dose of quinine had been bitter and very unpalatable. […] To make the medicine go down more easily, colonialists occasionally mixed the powder with sugar, water and gin.

2014, Olivia Williams, “Gin is the Tonic”, in Gin Glorious Gin: How Mother’s Ruin Became the Spirit of London, London: Headline Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 163:

(pharmacology) An alkaloid with the chemical formula C₂₀H₂₄N₂O₂, originally derived from cinchona bark (from plants of the genus Cinchona), used to treat malaria and as an ingredient of tonic water, which presents as a bitter colourless powder; also, a drug containing quinine or a chemical compound derived from it.


buccal

(pharmacology) Administered in the mouth, not by swallowing but by absorption through the skin of the cheek; often by placing between the top gum and the inside of the lip.


ESA

erythropoiesis-stimulating agent
w:erythropoiesis-stimulating agent

(pharmacology) Initialism of erythropoiesis-stimulating agent.


trade name

առևտրային անվանում

Patients who come to the pharmacy counter may remember the trade name of their prescription but not the nonproprietary name, or vice versa.

registered trademark
registered trademark

international nonproprietary name
international nonproprietary name

A name used to identify a commercial product or service; may or may not be a registered trademark.

(medicine, pharmacology) The company-specific name for a drug (medication), in contrast with a nonproprietary name such as an INN (international nonproprietary name), USAN (United States adopted name), JAN (Japanese accepted name), and so on.


stimulant

Milk of chameleon was recommended as an erotic stimulant by Avicenna.

1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 59:

“Uppers” are what’s known as stimulants while “downers” are what is classified as depressants. […] Uppers increased cardiovascular and respiratory functions to dangerous degrees that can overwhelm the body. If you’ve ever felt an adrenaline rush before, you likely felt shaky, weak, or dizzy once it passed. This is similar to what stimulant drug users experience once a stimulant wears off. Feelings of exhaustion and depression set in and users seek more uppers to ward off what’s known as a “crash”.

2024 April 10 [2020 August 27], Nick B., “Which Drugs Are Uppers And Downers?”, in The Freedom Center:

(pharmacology) A substance that acts to increase physiological or nervous activity in the body.

مُنَشِّط

substance acting to increase physiological or nervous activity in the body


amphetamine

en-noun

amphetamine (countable and uncountable, plural amphetamines)

amphetamines (plural)
amfetamine (alternative)

Shortened form of a(lpha-)m(ethyl)ph(en)eth(yl)amine.

central nervous system
central nervous system

(medicine, pharmacology) A potent central nervous system stimulant of the phenethylamine chemical class that is used to treat ADHD, narcolepsy, and obesity.


barbiturate

barbiturates (plural)
barbituate (alternative)

/ˌbɑː(ɹ)ˈbɪt͡ʃəɹɪt/

/ˌbɑː(ɹ)ˈbɪt͡ʃəɹeɪt/

/ˌbɑɹbɪˈt(j)ʊəɹɪt/

/ˌbɑɹˈbɪt͡ʃu.ɪt/

Following the “Summer of Love” in 1967, amphetamines and barbiturates began to replace psychedelics as the dominant drugs used in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, and increasing numbers of individuals were treated at the Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic for complications following barbiturate use.

1977, Donald R. Wesson, David Elvin Smith, Barbiturates, their use, misuse, and abuse, New York: Human Sciences Press, →ISBN, page 9:

(pharmacology) Any of derivatives of barbituric acid that act as depressants of the central nervous system and are used as sedatives or hypnotics.

باربتيورات

derivative of barbituric acid that acts as a depressant of the central nervous system


inotropic

/ˌɪn.əˈtɹəʊ.pɪk/

From Ancient Greek ἴς (ís, “sinew, tendon; strength, force”) + -tropic (“affecting, changing”), from Ancient Greek τρόπος (trópos, “turn, direction, way”) + -ικός (-ikós, “-ic”, adjectival suffix).

af

<i class="Latn mention" lang="en">-ic</i>

(medicine, pharmacology) An inotropic heart drug.


pseudoephedrine

en-noun

pseudoephedrine (countable and uncountable, plural pseudoephedrines)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-pseudoephedrine.wav

(pharmacology) A sympathomimetic alkaloid commonly used as a decongestant; a chemical compound, an isomer of ephedrine, with the formula C₁₀H₁₅NO.


IR

IR (countable and uncountable, plural IRs)

(pharmacology) Initialism of immediate release.


dog food

dog food (countable and uncountable, plural dog foods)

dog foods (plural)
dogfood (alternative US)

(slang, drugs) Heroin, typically the non-black tar type.


API

(pharmacology) Initialism of active pharmaceutical ingredient.


primo

Borrowed from Italian primo (“first”). Doublet of prime and primus.

(slang, drugs) A marijuana cigarette that has been laced with cocaine or heroin.


somniferous

en-adj

somniferous (comparative more somniferous, superlative most somniferous)

more somniferous (comparative)
most somniferous (superlative)

From Latin somnifer + -ous, from somnus (“sleep”) + ferre (“to bring”).

(pharmacology) causing or inducing sleep, normally with harmful overtones.


penicillin

en-noun

penicillin (countable and uncountable, plural penicillins)

From translingual Penicillium + -in. Coined by Alexander Fleming after Penicillium notatum (now Penicillium chrysogenum), a fungus from which penicillin is obtained.

(pharmacology) Any of a group of narrow-spectrum antibiotics obtained from Penicillium molds or synthesized, that have a beta-lactam structure and are active against gram-positive bacteria and used in the treatment of various infections and diseases.


acetylsalicylic acid

(organic chemistry, pharmacology) The acetate ester of salicylic acid (aspirin).

àcid acetilsalicílic

acetate ester of salicylic acid; aspirin


hydroxy

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-hydroxy.wav

So, we know from that standpoint — because it’s been so many years, from a safety standpoint, it’s safe. I happen to think, based on what I’ve read — I’ve read a lot about hydroxy. I happen to think that it has an impact, especially at the early years.

2020 July 28, Remarks by President Trump in Press Briefing:

(informal, pharmacology) Clipping of hydroxychloroquine.


pharmaceutical

From Latin pharmaceuticus (“of drugs”) + -al, from Ancient Greek φαρμακευτικός (pharmakeutikós, “of or by means of drugs or pharmacy”).

der

φαρμακευτικός

(medicine, pharmacy, pharmacology) Of or relating to pharmacy or pharmacists.

farmaseuties

of, or relating to pharmacy or pharmacists


pharmaceutical

φαρμακευτικός

(medicine, pharmacy, pharmacology) A pharmaceutical or pharmacological preparation or product; a drug.


Viagra

Marketing name, perhaps from Sanskrit व्याघ्र (vyāghrá, “tiger”), or perhaps based on words such as vigour, virility, victory and Niagara.

Just like any other drug that elevates any aspect or level of performance, Viagra has a pretty harsh comedown, so to speak.

2004, Jayson Gallaway, Diary of a Viagra Fiend, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 49:

erectile dysfunction
erectile dysfunction

(pharmacology) A brand name of the drug sildenafil citrate, used to treat erectile dysfunction.

فِيَاغْرَا

trademark name of the drug, sildenafil citrate, used to treat erectile dysfunction


sildenafil

en-noun

sildenafil (usually uncountable, plural sildenafils)

Probably from s(ulfon)yl + -dena- (“alteration of (pyrimi)dine”) + ph(en)yl.

af

Ellis opens a file from his stack. In 1991, he says, Pfizer wanted to test the safety of what came to be known as sildenafil.

2017, David Friend, The Naughty Nineties:

(pharmacology) A drug that is used in the form of its citrate C₂₂H₃₀N₆O₄S·C₆H₈O₇ to treat erectile dysfunction in males, that by suppressing a phosphodiesterase enzyme also suppresses the enzyme's inhibitory effect on the hormone cyclic GMP, and that enables the cyclic GMP produced during sexual arousal to initiate the muscular and vascular changes which produce an erection. It is marketed under the trademarks Revatio and Viagra.


ATV

en-noun

ATV (countable and uncountable, plural ATVs)

(pharmacology) Abbreviation of atazanavir.


IT

(medicine, pharmacology) Initialism of intrathecal.


antineoplastic

(pharmacology, oncology) Inhibiting the development of tumours.


antineoplastic

(pharmacology) Any such agent, used in chemotherapy.


confection

From Middle English confescioun, borrowed from Old French confeccion (French confection), borrowed from Latin cōnfectiōnem, from confectus, past participle of conficere (“prepare”), from com- (“with”) + facere (“to make, do”). Originally "the making by means of ingredients"; sense of "candy or light pastry" predominant since 1500s.

(pharmacology) A preparation of medicine sweetened with sugar, honey, syrup, or the like; an electuary.

(obsolete, medicine) A medicinal preparation of any kind, a compound of drugs.

Was it not a goodly poison that he gave!
Why, he's as well now as he was before.
It shuld have been some fine confection
That might have given the broth some dainty taste

2007, Unknown, edited by White, Martin and Lockwood, Tom, Arden of Faversham, 2nd edition, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 20, Scene 1, ll. 421–425:


trimetazidine

(pharmacology) A cytoprotective antiischemic drug used in the treatment of angina pectoris.


antidopaminergic

(pharmacology) preventing or counteracting the effects of dopamine


antidopaminergic

(pharmacology) Any drug that prevents or counteracts the effects of dopamine.

antidopaminergico

any drug that prevents or counteracts the effects of dopamine


dissociative drug

dissociative drug (plural dissociative drugs)

(pharmacology) Any of a class of psychedelic drugs characterized by intense feelings of depersonalization, derealization, and analgesia.


antibacterial

This drug has an antibacterial effect.

Many genes with reproductive roles also have antibacterial and immune functions, which indicate that the threat of microbial attack on the sperm or egg may be a major influence on rapid evolution during reproduction.

2013 May-June, Katrina G. Claw, “Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:

(pharmacology) Killing or inhibiting bacteria.


antibacterial

Many household products contain antibacterials.

(pharmacology) A drug having the effect of killing or inhibiting bacteria.


antiseptic

en-adj

antiseptic (comparative more antiseptic, superlative most antiseptic)

more antiseptic (comparative)
most antiseptic (superlative)

(pharmacology) Capable of preventing microbial infection.

հականեխիչ

capable of preventing microbial infection


antiseptic

(pharmacology) Any substance that inhibits the growth and reproduction of microorganisms. Generally includes only those that are used on living objects (as opposed to disinfectants) and aren't transported by the lymphatic system to destroy bacteria in the body (as opposed to antibiotics).

مُعَقِّمٌ

substance that inhibits the growth of microorganisms


nitrofurantoin

(pharmacology) A synthetic nitrofuran drug, 1-(5-nitro-2-furfurylideneamino)hydantoin, that is a broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent used in the treatment on urinary tract infections such as cystitis.


antihistamine

Perhaps the most striking method of demonstrating the effect of antihistamine substances is to use them to protect guinea-pigs against the action of histamine sprayed into the air from an atomizer.

1946 December 7, British journal of pharmacology and chemotherapy, volume 1, number 4, page 278:

(pharmacology) A drug or substance that counteracts the effects of a histamine. Commonly used to alleviate the symptoms of hay fever and other allergies.


eucaine

en-noun

eucaine (countable and uncountable, plural eucaines)

From German Eukain; comparable to eu- + -caine.

(pharmacology) A derivative of cocaine used as a local anesthetic in veterinary medicine.


retinoic acid

(organic chemistry, pharmacology, biochemistry) A derivative of vitamin A, used in the treatment of acne; it is essential for bone and tissue development.


isobutylphenyl propionic acid

isobutylphenyl propionic acid (uncountable)

(organic chemistry, pharmacology) A substance used as an anti-inflammatory painkiller, often shortened to ibuprofen.


Aspirin

From the German trademark Aspirin, from acetylierte Spirsäure (“acetylated spiræic acid”); more at aspirin § Etymology.

(pharmacology) A marketed variety of acetylsalicylic acid.

aspirin

the genericized trademark meaning acetylsalicylic acid


Equipoise

anabolic steroid
anabolic steroid#English

boldenone undecylenate
boldenone undecylenate#English

(pharmacology) Market name for the anabolic steroid boldenone undecylenate.


PK

PK (countable and uncountable, plural PKs)

I know a guy who had surgery done and he is now addicted to the PKs. I had a problem with a popular recreational substance about ten years ago and I'm realy not looking forward to counting that coup again. As it is now, I have a pile of PKs that the doc. gave me. I don't use them unless I can't even sit up.

1999 January 4, Kelly Potts, “Re: genetic traits”, in alt.native (Usenet):

But between the Toradol, Sudafed, Adderall, Vicodin, Percocet, and other PKs (painkillers), you didn't really need to buy street drugs. You could find the right state of mind right in the trainer's room.

2017, Sean Avery, Offside: My Life Crossing the Line, [Toronto]: Viking Press, →ISBN, page unknown:

(informal, pharmacology) Initialism of painkiller.


Sally

A diminutive lambdacism of Sarah. Compare Hal from Harry and Moll from Mary.

(slang, drugs, Canada, US) Alternative letter-case form of sally: the crystalline or powdered form of MDA.


ibuprofen

ibuprofen (countable and uncountable, plural ibuprofens)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-ibuprofen.wav

From i(so)bu(tyl) + pro(pionic acid) + phen(yl).

af

(organic chemistry, pharmacology) A synthetic compound used widely as an analgesic and anti-inflammatory drug.


oral availability

en-noun

oral availability (usually uncountable, plural oral availabilities)

2002, Daniel F. Veber, Stephen R. Johnson, Hung-Yuan Cheng, Brian R. Smith, Keith W. Ward, and Kenneth D. Kopple, "Molecular Properties That Influence the Oral Bioavailability of Drug Candidates". Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 45(12):2615-2623. Retrieved July 9, 2005.
An analysis of the measured oral availability in rats for over 1100 compounds studied at SmithKline Beecham has revealed the unexpected positive influence of increasing molecular rigidity as measured by the rotatable bond count and the more expected negative impact of increasing polar surface area.

(pharmacology) The quality of being efficacious when taken by mouth (usually of a medicinal drug).


small molecule drug

small molecule drug (plural small molecule drugs)

(pharmacology) A medicinal drug compound having a molecular weight of less than 1000 daltons, and typically between 300 and 700 daltons.


pharmacological

/ˌfɑɹməkəˈlɒd͡ʒɪkəl/

(pharmacology) Of or having to do with pharmacology.


antibiotic

Tok Pisin: antibaiotik

Borrowed from French antibiotique; by surface analysis, anti- + -biotic.

On a summer visit back to the farm here where I grew up, I think I figured out the central problem with modern industrial agriculture. It’s not just that it produces unhealthy food, mishandles waste and overuses antibiotics in ways that harm us all.

2009 August 22, Nicholas Kristof, “Food for the Soul”, in The New York Times:

We selected colistimethate sodium (CMS) as our antibiotic of choice.

2015 November 7, “Lung Microbiota Changes Associated with Chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa Lung Infection and the Impact of Intravenous Colistimethate Sodium”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:

(pharmacology) Any substance that can destroy or inhibit the growth of bacteria and similar microorganisms, generally transported by the lymphatic system.

antibiotik

substance that destroys or inhibits bacteria


antibiotic

en-adj

antibiotic (comparative more antibiotic, superlative most antibiotic)

more antibiotic (comparative)
most antibiotic (superlative)

(pharmacology) Of or relating to antibiotics.


PO

(pharmacology) Initialism of per os (“by mouth, orally”).


ADR

en-noun

ADR (countable and uncountable, plural ADRs)

/eɪ diː ˈɑː/

adverse drug reaction
w:adverse drug reaction

(pharmacology) Initialism of adverse drug reaction.


HS

(medicine, pharmacology) Initialism of half strength.

(medicine, pharmacology) Initialism of hora somni (“literally, hour of sleep; at bedtime”). From Latin hora somni


NSAID

(pharmacology) Acronym of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug.


XR

Adderall-XR

(pharmacology) Initialism of extended release.


CR

controlled release
controlled release#English

(medicine, pharmacology) Initialism of controlled release.


AED

(medicine, pharmacology) Initialism of antiepileptic drug.


ARV

(pharmacology) Initialism of antiretroviral.


ARB

angiotensin receptor blocker
angiotensin receptor blocker#English

(pharmacology) Initialism of angiotensin receptor blocker.


MAOI

‘Sertraline in combination with an MAOI will kill you, in enough quantities.’

1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest […], Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 70:

monoamine oxidase
monoamine oxidase#English

(pharmacology) Initialism of monoamine oxidase inhibitor.


CPA

CPA (countable and uncountable, plural CPAs)

cyproterone acetate
cyproterone acetate#English

(organic chemistry, pharmacology) Abbreviation of cyproterone acetate.


SGA

SGA (countable and uncountable, plural SGAs)

second-generation antipsychotic
atypical antipsychotic#English

(pharmacology) Initialism of second-generation antipsychotic.


TID

It has been repeatedly documented that moving patients from a TID dosing regimen to BID or OD vastly improves compliance, and thus the medicine's effectiveness.

2014 April, Ken. Seufert, “The New Dawn of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing: Innovative Solutions for Unprecedented Challenges”, in American Pharmaceutical Review:

(pharmacology) thrice per day, consumed three times per day


agonistic

en-adj

agonistic (comparative more agonistic, superlative most agonistic)

more agonistic (comparative)
most agonistic (superlative)

From Ancient Greek ἀγωνιστικός (agōnistikós).

(pharmacology, biochemistry) Pertaining to an agonist.


anticonvulsant

(pharmacology) An agent that prevents, stops, or lessens convulsions.


anticonvulsant

(pharmacology) Acting as an anticonvulsant.


antidepressant

Some women with postpartum depression and thyroid imbalance may require antidepressants and psychiatric therapy.

1999, Ridha Arem, The Thyroid Solution, →ISBN, page 216:

She had a history of depression and was taking phenelzine, an antidepressant.

2009 March 3, Barron H. Lerner, “A Life-Changing Case for Doctors in Training”, in The New York Times:

Dr. Melanie met with Annabelle and delivered her diagnosis: Benny was in the prodromal phase of schizoaffective disorder, and she was recommending that they stop the Ritalin and start him on an antidepressant for the mood disorder and an antipsychotic to treat the auditory hallucinations.

2021, Ruth Ozeki, The Book of Form and Emptiness, Canongate Books (2022), page 102:

(pharmacology) An agent that prevents or counteracts depression.


antidepressant

antidepressant (comparative more antidepressant, superlative most antidepressant)

more antidepressant (comparative)
most antidepressant (superlative)

(pharmacology) Preventing or counteracting depression.


antimutagen

(pharmacology) an agent which counteracts one or more mutagens


tigecycline

From [Term?] + -cycline (“tetracycline derivative”).

af

(pharmacology) A glycylcycline antibiotic.


antihypertensive

From anti- + hypertensive or anti- + hypertension + -ive.

(pharmacology) An agent that prevents or counteracts hypertension.


antihypertensive

(pharmacology) Preventing or counteracting hypertension.

降壓的 /降压的

preventing or counteracting hypertension


anti-inflammatory

anti-inflammatories (plural)
antiinflammatory (alternative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-anti-inflammatory.wav

(pharmacology) An agent that prevents or counteracts inflammation.


anti-inflammatory

en-adj

anti-inflammatory (comparative more anti-inflammatory, superlative most anti-inflammatory)

more anti-inflammatory (comparative)
most anti-inflammatory (superlative)
antiinflammatory (alternative)

(pharmacology) Preventing or counteracting inflammation.

процізапале́нчы

preventing or counteracting inflammation


antarthritic

antarthritics (plural)
antiarthritic (alternative)

(pharmacology) An agent that prevents or alleviates arthritis.


antarthritic

antarthritic (comparative more antarthritic, superlative most antarthritic)

more antarthritic (comparative)
most antarthritic (superlative)
antiarthritic (alternative)

(pharmacology) Preventing or alleviating arthritis.


tetracycline

en-noun

tetracycline (countable and uncountable, plural tetracyclines)

tetracyclines (plural)
tet (abbreviation)

(pharmacology, uncountable) A yellow crystalline broad-spectrum antibiotic C₂₂H₂₄N₂O₈ produced by streptomyces or synthetically.

(pharmacology, countable) Any of a large group of antibiotics with the same general structure derived from tetracene with many hydroxyl and other groups.

tétracycline

antibiotic with the same general structure


heparin

heparin (countable and uncountable, plural heparins)

(biochemistry, pharmacology) A compound occurring in the liver and other tissues which inhibits blood coagulation. A sulfur-containing polysaccharide, it is used as an anticoagulant in the treatment of thrombosis.


fluoxetine

fluoxetine (usually uncountable, plural fluoxetines)

From flu(oro)- + ox(y)- + t(oluene) + (am)ine.

af

(pharmacology) A synthetic compound which inhibits the uptake of serotonin in the brain and is taken to treat depression.


RMP

en-noun

RMP (countable and uncountable, plural RMPs)

(pharmacology) Abbreviation of rifampicin.


ADME

(pharmacology) Initialism of absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion.


TI

TI (countable and uncountable, plural TIs)

therapeutic index
therapeutic index#English

(pharmacology) Initialism of therapeutic index.


-dan

(pharmacology) Used to form names of pimobendan derivatives used as cardiac stimulants.


antimitotic

(pharmacology, cytology) Preventing or disrupting mitosis.


antimitotic

(pharmacology) An agent that prevents or disrupts mitosis.

antimitotique

an agent that prevents or disrupts mitosis


goofball

Strong Cobb & Co. of Cleveland announced a new barbiturate which in overlarge doses will turn the stomachs of "goofball" addicts and would-be suicides.

That night Marylou took everything in the books; she took tea, goofballs, benny, liquor, and even asked Old Bull for a shot of M, which of course he didn’t give her; he did give her a martini.

1957, Jack Kerouac, On the Road, Viking Press, →OCLC:

(informal, pharmacology) A pill or tablet containing a pharmaceutical which has hypnotic or intoxicating effects, especially a barbiturate.

Narkotikum

pill that has hypnotic or intoxicating effects


antipruritic

(pharmacology, dermatology) a medical agent that stops itching.


MPA

medroxyprogesterone acetate
medroxyprogesterone acetate#English

(pharmacology) Initialism of medroxyprogesterone acetate.


diacetylmorphine

(pharmacology) The INN name for the drug heroin.


miso

I’m here to look for a small, white, hexagonal pill called misoprostol. Also known as miso or Cytotec, the drug induces an abortion that appears like a miscarriage during the early stages of a woman’s pregnancy. For women living in Latin America and other countries that have traditionally outlawed abortion, miso has been a lifeline […]

2014 June 27, Erica Hellerstein, “The Rise of the DIY Abortion in Texas”, in The Atlantic:

Now a year later, as the courts consider the fate of mifepristone and abortion providers gird for the possibility of a miso-only protocol, Cristina says that she’s grateful she was able to end her unwanted pregnancy, although she knows not everyone has access to the same resources […]

2023 July 31, Sara Hutchinson, “Having an Abortion at Home? There’s a Hotline for That”, in Cosmopolitan:

(pharmacology, informal) Clipping of misoprostol.


antimicrobial

(pharmacology) Tending to destroy or capable of destroying microbes.

(pharmacology) Inhibiting the growth of microbes.

(pharmacology) Preventing or counteracting the pathogenic action of microbes.

հակամանրէային

preventing the pathogenic action of microbes


antipsychotic

(pharmacology) Preventing or counteracting psychosis.


antipsychotic

(pharmacology) Any of a group of drugs used to treat psychosis.

antipsychotikum

any of a group of drugs used to treat psychosis


actinomycin

actinomycin (countable and uncountable, plural actinomycins)

(biochemistry, pharmacology) Any of a class of toxic polypeptide antibiotics found in soil bacteria of genus Streptomyces.

اکتینومایسین

antibiotic found in bacteria of genus Streptomyces


ketamine

ketamine (countable and uncountable, plural ketamines)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-ketamine.wav

Blend of ketone + amine. First use appears c. 1966.

He was riding high that night, with a brick of Wage's ketamine on its way to Yokohama and the money already in his pocket.

1984, William Gibson, Neuromancer (Sprawl; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →ISBN, page 8:

The chatbot instructed him to give up sleeping pills and an anti-anxiety medication, and to increase his intake of ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic, which ChatGPT described as a “temporary pattern liberator.”

2025 June 13, Kashmir Hill, “They Asked ChatGPT Questions. The Answers Sent Them Spiraling.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(pharmacology) A synthetic compound used as a dissociative anesthetic and analgesic drug and also recreationally as a hallucinogen.


antiscorbutic

en-adj

antiscorbutic (comparative more antiscorbutic, superlative most antiscorbutic)

more antiscorbutic (comparative)
most antiscorbutic (superlative)
anti-scorbutic (alternative)

(pharmacology) Preventing or curing scurvy.


antiscorbutic

antiscorbutics (plural)
anti-scorbutic (alternative)

(pharmacology) A medicine that prevents or cures scurvy.

antiescorbútic

a medicine that prevents or cures scurvy


antiviral

(pharmacology) Inhibiting the growth and reproduction of a virus.


APC

(dated, pharmacology) Initialism of aspirin-phenacetin-caffeine.


prescription

en-noun

prescription (countable and uncountable, plural prescriptions)

prescriptions (plural)
præscription (alternative)

/pɹəˈskɹɪpʃən/

Borrowed from Middle French, from Old French prescripcion, from Latin praescriptio (“preface; pretext; something written ahead of time”), from prae- (“pre-, before”) + scribere (“to write”) + -tio (“-tion, forming nouns”).

taalregulering

the act or practice of laying down norms of language usage; an instance of this

تَقَادُم

extinctive or liberative prescription — see also statute of limitations

The surgeon had written thousands of prescriptions for pain killers without proper examinations before the police raided the clinic.

medical practitioner
medical practitioner

(medicine, pharmacy, pharmacology) A written order from an authorized medical practitioner for provision of a medicine or other treatment, such as (ophthalmology) the specific lenses needed for a pair of glasses.

recetë

written order for the administration of a medicine

វេជ្ជបញ្ជា

vɨccĕəʼ bɑɑbɑñciə


antiarrhythmic

(pharmacology) Used to treat or prevent (heart) arrhythmia (irregular beat).


antiarrhythmic

(pharmacology) A drug that treats or prevents (heart) arrhythmia (irregular beat).

antiarrítmic

a drug that treats or prevents arrhythmia


antiperistaltic

(pharmacology) That blocks or stops peristalsis.


Tamiflu

(pharmacology) A trade name for oseltamivir, an antiviral drug used to treat influenza.


oseltamivir

From oselt- (of unknown origin) + -amivir (“neuraminidase inhibitor”).

af

(pharmacology) An antiviral drug that is taken orally in the form of its phosphate C₁₆H₂₈N₂O₄·H₃PO₄ and is a neuraminidase inhibitor used in the treatment and prevention of influenza. It is a derivative of shikimic acid, and is marketed as Tamiflu.


colchicine

en-noun

colchicine (countable and uncountable, plural colchicines)

Gloriosa superba: spectacularly beautiful climbing lily. Roots, stalks, leaves contain an acrid narcotic, superbine, as well as colchicine and choline. Three grains of colchicine are fatal. Hawaii.

(organic chemistry, pharmacology) A highly toxic alkaloid, chemical formula C₂₂H₂₅NO₆, originally extracted from plants of the genus Colchicum and formerly used to treat rheumatic complaints, now used mainly in the treatment of gout.


Taxol

(pharmacology) Taxol, paclitaxel: a drug (a mitotic inhibitor) used to kill dividing tumour cells.


taxol

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-taxol.wav

Named by the researchers who isolated it from the bark of the Pacific yew in 1967, Monroe E. Wall and Mansukh C. Wani, from the scientific Latin term Taxus (a genus name).

The powerful anti-cancer drug taxol is extracted from the leaves of the yew tree.

2001, Leslie Iversen, Drugs: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, page 20:

(chemistry, pharmacology) A taxane, C₄₇H₅₁NO₁₄, used to treat cancer; Taxol.


atropine

atropine (countable and uncountable, plural atropines)

atropines (plural)
atropia (alternative dated)

From Latin Atropa (“genus of deadly nightshade”) + -ine.

af

Atropa belladonna
Atropa belladonna#Translingual

(toxicology, pharmacology) An alkaloid extracted from the plant deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna) and other sources, such as the seeds of the thorn-apple. Though overdoses would be fatal it is used as a drug in medicine for its paralytic effects (e.g. in surgery to relax muscles, in dentistry to dry the mouth, in ophthalmology to dilate the pupils).


PAE

postantibiotic effect
postantibiotic effect#English

(pharmacology, microbiology) Initialism of postantibiotic effect.


antispasmodic

(pharmacology) Referring to something that suppresses spasms, generally a drug.


antispasmodic

(pharmacology) A drug that suppresses spasms.


psychotropic

en-adj

psychotropic (comparative more psychotropic, superlative most psychotropic)

more psychotropic (comparative)
most psychotropic (superlative)

“Medication can be part of a psychotropic arsenal,” he said, discussing one therapist who urged him to stop taking Xanax so he could address his anxiety directly and not mask the physical symptoms.

2014 January 28, Kat Kinsman, “10 things we learned about surviving anxiety”, in CNN:

(pharmacology) Affecting the mind or mental processes.


psychotropic

(pharmacology) A psychotropic drug or agent.


EDP

en-noun

EDP (countable and uncountable, plural EDPs)

(pharmacology) Initialism of estradiol dipropionate.


ICS

ICS (countable and uncountable, plural ICSs)

(pharmacology) Initialism of inhaled corticosteroid.


antinephritic

(pharmacology) Counteracting, or deemed of use in, diseases of the kidneys.


depressant

depressant (countable and uncountable, plural depressants)

Alcohol acts first as a stimulant and then as a depressant.

The prescription painkiller Emily Jackson took is a respiratory depressant that slows breathing. That in combination with the alcohol, another respiratory depressant, overwhelmed her brain, which stopped giving her heart and lungs the signal to keep functioning.

2012 November 15, Maxwell Newfield, “Prescription drug deaths: Two stories”, in CNN:

On the opposite end of the drug side effect spectrum are downers. This slang term refers to CNS depressants, the types of drugs that produce a sedative effect by slowing down the messages sent and received between the central nervous system and the brain.

2024 April 10 [2020 August 27], Nick B., “Which Drugs Are Uppers And Downers?”, in The Freedom Center:

(pharmacology) A pharmacological substance which decreases neuronal or physiological activity.


depressant

en-adj

depressant (comparative more depressant, superlative most depressant)

more depressant (comparative)
most depressant (superlative)

the conception of the asomatous depressant malaria

1876, Alfred Alexander Woodhull, Studies, chiefly clinical […] :

(pharmacology) Reducing functional or nervous activity.


beta blocker

beta blockers (plural)
betablocker (alternative)
beta-blocker (alternative)
β-blocker (alternative)

From action of drug which blocks beta-adrenergic receptors.

(pharmacology) A blocking agent, one of a class of drugs used to treat hypertension and control the rate at which the heart beats.


TDR

totally drug resistant
totally drug resistant#English

(medicine, pharmacology, pathology) Abbreviation of totally drug resistant.


antasthmatic

(pharmacology) Relieving the symptoms of asthma.


antasthmatic

(pharmacology) Drug that relieves the symptoms of asthma.

αντιασθματικό

drug that relieves the symptoms of asthma


polypill

preventative medicine
preventative medicine

(pharmacology) Medication that is a combination drug of at least four active ingredients, and that is intended to be consumed widely, even by currently healthy individuals, as a means of preventative medicine.


amyl nitrite

(pharmacology) A yellowish volatile synthetic liquid C₅H₁₁NO₂ of commercial amyl alcohol and nitrous acid that is used medicinally as a vasodilator. It is rapidly absorbed by the body on inhalation, and is sometimes used recreationally especially as an aphrodisiac.


MPPP

2005, Staack et al, Current Drug Metabolism http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15975043&query_hl=17&itool=pubmed_docsum, June
Furthermore, N-benzylpiperazine (BZP), 1-(3, 4-methylenedioxybenzyl)piperazine (MDBP), 1-(3-trifluoromethylphenyl)piperazine (TFMPP), 1-(3-chlorophenyl)piperazine (mCPP) and 1-(4-methoxyphenyl)piperazine (MeOPP) were taken into consideration as derivatives of the class of piperazine-derived designer drugs, as well as alpha-pyr-rolidinopropiophenone (PPP), 4'-methoxy-alpha-pyrrolidinopropiophenone (MOPPP), 3', 4'-methylenedioxy-alpha-pyrrolidino-propiophenone (MDPPP), 4'-methyl-alpha-pyrrolidinopropiophenone (MPPP), and 4'-methyl-alpha-pyrrolidinoexanophenone (MPHP) as derivatives of the class of alpha-pyrrolidinophenone-derived designer drugs.

The same toxicological detection procedure can be applied to other designer drugs of the pyrrolidinophenone type, like MOPPP, MDPPP, MPHP, and MPPP. The detection of the latter will also be presented here

2003, Journal of chromatography. B, Analytical technologies in the biomedical and life sciences., Springer et al:

(pharmacology) Synthetic heroin of the pyrrolidinophenone type.


over-the-counter

over-the-counter drug, over-the-counter medicine

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the oral contraceptive Opill for over-the-counter use, making it the first nonprescription birth control pill in the United States, but it will be months before it’s available.

2023 July 21, Amanda Musa, “The FDA approved the US’ first over-the-counter birth control pill. What happens next?”, in CNN:

(pharmacology, of medicine and other treatments) Legal for sale or distribution without the requirement of a prescription.


posology

en-noun

posology (usually uncountable, plural posologies)

From Ancient Greek πόσος (pósos, “how much?”) + -ology (suffix indicating a branch of learning).

suffix

The difficulty here alluded to occurs in the doses of medicine exhibited by the ancient physicians. These have long been observed to be very large; and it was on remarking the impossibility, according to our ideas, of exhibiting them with safety to human life, or even of escaping destruction under their influence, that my observation was first drawn to the subject of ancient posology.

1820 April, E. Milligan, “On the Doses of the Ancient Physicians”, in The Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal: Exhibiting a Concise View of the Latest and Most Discoveries in Medicine, Surgery, and Pharmacy, volume XVI, number LXIII, Edinburgh: Printed by George Ramsay & Company, for Archibald Constable and Company, Edinburgh; Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown, London; and John Cumming, Dublin, →OCLC, page 186:

Dr. Wise […] mentions two systems of Hindu surgery and nine systems of medicine, three of materia medica, one of posology, one of pharmacy, and three of metallic preparations alone. From these one can gather the strength and dimensions of the scientific knowledge of ancient India regarding therapeutic agents of both organic and inorganic origin.

2000, L. D. Kapoor, “Introduction”, in Handbook of Ayurvedic Medicinal Plants (Herbal Reference Library), Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, →ISBN, page 1:

Posology is usually well defined by medicinal plant specialists. Traditional formulations of medicinal plants processed for therapeutic uses (such as teas, syrups, concoctions, beverages, etc.) are expected to be ingested over a given period of time, varying with the expected length of the condition to be treated, and the time required for the remedy to attain its curative goal.

2002, Elaine Elisabetsky, “Traditional Medicines and the New Paradigm of Psychotropic Drug Action”, in Maurice M[maduakolam] Iwu, Jacqueline C. Wootton, editors, Ethnomedicine and Drug Discovery (Advances in Phytomedicine; 1), Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, →ISBN, page 136:

The posologies employed require careful clinical and electrical supervision, and the same anticoagulant measures as for electrical cardioversion are necessary.

2012, Y. Grosgogeat, “Cerebral Ischemic Accidents of Cardiac Origin”, in Jacques Bories, editor, Cerebral Ischaemia: A Neuroradiological Study (Neuroradiology; volume 27, number 6), Berlin: Springer-Verlag, →DOI, →ISBN, page 130:

(countable, uncountable, pharmacy, pharmacology) The study of the dosages of drugs, especially the determination of appropriate dosages.


DDD

en-noun

DDD (countable and uncountable, plural DDDs)

The authors found a significant decrease in the defined daily doses (DDD) of antibiotics in both units B and C, but not in unit A. Although just a single center study, this illustrates the impact that ID specialist approval can have on antibiotic use.

2017, Christopher D. Doern, Carey-Ann D. Burnham, “Selective Reporting and Antimicrobial Stewardship”, in Kerry LaPlante, Cheston Cunha, Haley Morrill, Louis Rice, Eleftherios Mylonakis, editors, Antimicrobial Stewardship: Principles and Practice, Wallingford: CABI, →ISBN, page 115:

(pharmacology) Initialism of defined daily dose: a statistical measure of drug consumption.


-tide

(pharmacology) Used to form names of peptides and glycopeptides.