alexipharmacum
English edit
Etymology edit
From Latin alexipharmacum, from Ancient Greek ἀλεξιφάρμακον (alexiphármakon).
Noun edit
alexipharmacum (plural alexipharmaca)
- (obsolete) Something which protects against, or cures, a poison; an antidote.
- 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 5, member 3, subsection i:
- he calls steel the proper alexipharmacum of this malady, and much magnifies it […].