FromMiddle Englishmedicin, fromMiddle Frenchmedicine, fromOld Frenchmedecine, fromLatinmedicīna(“the healing art, medicine, a physician's shop, a remedy, medicine”), feminine ofmedicīnus(“of or belonging to physic or surgery, or to a physician or surgeon”), frommedicus(“a physician, surgeon”). The extended sense of "Indigenous magic" is acalque ofOjibwemashkiki(“medicine”) ormide (or cognates inrelated languages) when used in compounds such asGrand Medicine Society,medicine lodge,medicine dance,medicine bag,medicine wheel,medicine man,Medicine Line, andbad medicine or place names such asMedicine Hat,Medicine Creek, etc.
medicine (countable anduncountable,pluralmedicines)
- (uncountable, countable) Asubstance which specifically promoteshealing wheningested or consumed in some way; apharmaceuticaldrug.
- Synonym:medication
- Hypernym:drug
Thismedicine has fewer adverse effects than others in its drug class.
Using a weekly pill organizer is a good way to help remind yourself to take yourmedicine each day, and it also tells you whether you already took today's pills (it's not unusual to forget doing a habitual task)!
- (loosely, countable) Anytreatment orcure.
A legislative remedy might be some harshmedicine; is that cure worse than the ill?
1625,Francis Bacon,Of Innovation:Surely everymedicine is an innovation; and he that will not apply new remedies, must expect new evils[…]
- (uncountable) The study of the cause,diagnosis,prognosis andtreatment ofdisease orillness.
She's studyingmedicine at university because she wants to be a doctor in the future.
- (uncountable) Theprofession andpractice ofphysicians, includingsurgeons.
- Synonym:leechcraft
- Hypernyms:health care,healthcare
- Hyponym:surgery
The history ofmedicine can be discretized into eras with differing relationships between physicians and surgeons
- (mainly historical, uncountable) Theprofession andpractice of nonsurgicalphysicians as sometimes distinguished from that ofsurgeons.
- Coordinate term:surgery
the evolving relationship ofmedicine to surgery in the nineteenth century
- (uncountable) Ritualmagic used, as by amedicine man, to promote a desired outcome in healing, hunting, or warfare;traditional medicine.
- Among the Native Americans, anyobject supposed to give control over natural or magical forces, to act as a protective charm, or to cause healing.
1896, F. H. Giddings,The Principles of Sociology:The North American Indian boy usually took as hismedicine the first animal of which he dreamed during the long and solitary fast that he observed at puberty.
- (obsolete)Black magic,superstition.
- (obsolete) Aphilter or love potion.
1597,William Shakespeare,Henry IV, Part I,II. ii. 18:If the rascal have not given memedicines to make me love him, I'll be hanged. It could not be else. I have drunkmedicines.
- (obsolete) Aphysician.
- (slang)Recreational drugs, especiallyalcoholicdrinks.
- academic medicine(which entails clinical medicine, medical education, biomedical basic science, and biomedical applied science)
- clinical medicine(comprising all point of care activity)
- laboratory medicine(which entails many lab tests, such as most serology and most NAATs (e.g., most PCRs))
- By epistemologic categorization:
medicine (third-person singular simple presentmedicines,present participlemedicining,simple past and past participlemedicined)
- (rare, obsolete) To treat with medicine.
1857, Delia Bacon,The philosophy of the plays of Shakspere unfolded:And we shall find, under the head of themedicining of the body, some things on the subject of medicine in general, which could be better saidthere thanhere, because of the wrath of professional dignitaries,- the eye of the 'basilisk,' was not perhaps quite so terrible in that quarter then, as it was in some others.
- Prescription Desk Reference,Prescription Drug Information:
- “medicine”, inDictionary.com Unabridged,Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- "medicine" in theMerriam-Webster On-line dictionary
- "medicine" in theHutchinson Encyclopaedia, Helicon Publishing LTD 2007.
- William Dwight Whitney,Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “medicine”, inThe Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.:The Century Co.,→OCLC.
- “medicine”, inOneLook Dictionary Search.
medicine f
- plural ofmedicina
FromOld Frenchmedecine, with thei added back to reflect the originalLatinmedicīna.
medicine f (pluralmedicines)
- medicine (act of practising medical treatment)
medicine
- inflection ofmedicinar:
- first/third-personsingularpresentsubjunctive
- third-personsingularimperative
