English edit

Etymology edit

dolor +‎ -ifuge (modelled on such words as febrifuge, vermifuge).

Noun edit

dolorifuge (plural dolorifuges)

  1. Something which mitigates or removes grief.
    • 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 86:
      The children, who had made use of this idea of Tess being taken up by their wealthy kinsfolk (as they imagined the other family to be) as a species of dolorifuge after the death of the horse, began to cry at Tess's reluctance, and teased and reproached her for hesitating.