medicine
UK /ˈmɛd.ɪ.s(ɪ)n/ · US /ˈmɛd.ɪ.sɪn/ noun, verb
Forms medicines medicining medicined medicin
- noun (uncountable, countable) A substance which specifically promotes healing when ingested or consumed in some way; a pharmaceutical drug. “This medicine has fewer adverse effects than others in its drug class.”
- noun (loosely, countable) Any treatment or cure. “A legislative remedy might be some harsh medicine; is that cure worse than the ill?”
- noun (uncountable) The study of the cause, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of disease or illness. “She's studying medicine at university because she wants to be a doctor in the future.”
- noun (uncountable) The profession and practice of physicians, including surgeons. “The history of medicine can be discretized into eras with differing relationships between physicians and surgeons”
- noun (often specifically) Scientific medicine.
- noun (mainly historical, uncountable) The profession and practice of nonsurgical physicians as sometimes distinguished from that of surgeons. “the evolving relationship of medicine to surgery in the nineteenth century”
- noun (uncountable) Ritual magic used, as by a medicine man, to promote a desired outcome in healing, hunting, or warfare; traditional medicine.
- noun Among the Native Americans, a spiritual power, or any object or person through whom such power is channeled, believed to grant influence over natural or magical forces, provide protection, or effect healing.
- verb (rare, obsolete) To treat with medicine.
Synonyms
pharmaceutical regimen course program prescription health care medical specialty medication medicament medicinal drug practice of medicine music medicate
Etymology
From Middle English medicin, from Middle French medicine, from Old French medecine, from Latin medicīna (“the healing art, medicine, a physician's shop, a remedy, medicine”), feminine of medicīnus (“of or belonging to physic or surgery, or to a physician or surgeon”), from medicus (“a physician, surgeon”). The extended sense of "Indigenous magic" is a calque of Ojibwe mashkiki (“medicine”) or mide (or cognates in related languages) when used in compounds such as Grand Medicine Society, medicine lodge, medicine dance, medicine bag, medicine wheel, medicine man, Medicine Line, and bad medicine or place names such as Medicine Hat, Medicine Creek, etc. Displaced native Old English lybb (“drug, medicine”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun The science which relates to the prevention, cure, or alleviation of disease.
- noun Any substance administered in the treatment of disease; a remedial agent; a remedy; physic.
- verb To give medicine to; to affect as a medicine does; to remedy; to cure. "Medicine thee to that sweet sleep." Shak.
Etymology [L. medicina (sc. ars), fr. medicinus medical, fr. medicus: cf. F. médecine. See Medical.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “medicine”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details