| 释义 |
▪ I. medicine, n.1|ˈmɛds(ə)n, ˈmɛdɪsɪn, -s(ə)n|
Forms: 3 medicin, 4 medisine, 4–5 medcyne, 4–6 medycine, 4–6 medycyne, medicyne, 5 medcyn, -ycyn, -esyn, metycyne, mettecyn, medcoyne, 5–6 medecyn(e, medicyn, 6 medecin, -yson, -ysyne, medsin, -syn, meddicine, metson, 6–9 medecine, medecen, 7 medcin, 3– medicine.
[a. OF. medecine, medicine (mod.F. médecine), ad. L. medicīna (1) the art of the physician, (2) a physician's laboratory, (3) a medicament, remedy, f. medic-us physician: see medic. Cf. Pr. medecina, medicina, metzina, Sp., Pg., It. medicina, G. medizin, Du. medicijn, Da., Sw. medicin.
For the formation of the L. word cf. officīna (for *opificīna), ruīna, rapīna. There seems to be no sufficient ground for the common view that medicīna is the fem. of an adj. medicīnus used with ellipsis (in the three senses respectively) of ars art, officīna workshop, rēs thing. The adj. occurs in late L., but otherwise only in one passage of Varro (in the phrase ars medicina), and its formation may have been suggested by the existence of the n.
The disyllabic pronunciation (recognized by Johnson 1755) has existed at least from the 14th c., as occasional spellings indicate. The trisyllabic pronunciation is less common in England, and is by many objected to as either pedantic or vulgar; in Scotland and in the U.S. it is app. the prevailing usage; examples of it occur in verse of all periods, from the 14th c. onwards.]
1. That department of knowledge and practice which is concerned with the cure, alleviation, and prevention of disease in human beings, and with the restoration and preservation of health. Also, in a more restricted sense, applied to that branch of this department which is the province of the physician, in the modern application of the term; the art of restoring and preserving the health of human beings by the administration of remedial substances and the regulation of diet, habits, and conditions of life; distinguished from Surgery and Obstetrics.
c1320Sir Tristr. 1204 Þe fair leuedi, þe quene, Louesom vnder line And sleiȝest had y bene, And mest couþe of medici[n]e. c1374Chaucer Troylus i. 659 Phebus þat first fond art of medecyne. 1484Caxton Fables of Auian v, I am a maystresse in medecyne, and canne gyue remedy to al manere of sekenes by myn arte. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xxxiii. 30 He murdreist mony in medecyne. 1550Lyndesay Sqr. Meldrum 1446 And, als, be his naturall ingyne, He lernit the Art of Medicyne. 1641Wilkins Math. Magick i. i. (1648) 3 Art may be said, either to imitate nature, as in limming and pictures, or to help nature, as in medicine. 1725Watts Logic i. vi. §10 Medicine is justly distributed into Prophylactick..and Therapeutick. 1828Scott F.M. Perth vii, The peaceful man of medicine. 1866A. Flint Princ. Med. (1880) 17 Medicine, in the largest sense of the term, comprehends everything pertaining to the knowledge and cure of disease. In a more restricted sense, the term is used in contradistinction to Surgery and Obstetrics. 1891C. T. C. James Rom. Rigmarole 93, I took up medicine again in England.
2. a. Any substance or preparation used in the treatment of disease; a medicament; also, medicaments generally, ‘physic’. Now commonly restricted to medicaments taken internally.
a1225Ancr. R. 178 Þu seist þet te nis no neod medicine. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 3073 Vor in þe verroste stede of affric geans wule vette Þulke stones vor medicine..Vor hii wolde þe stones wasse & þer inne baþie. a1300Cursor M. 1378 Cedre, ciprese, and pine, O þam sal man haue medicen. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vii. lxix. (1495) 288 Medycyne maye neuer be sykerly take, yf the cause of the euyll is vnknowe. c1440Alphabet of Tales 93 He had burnyd his hand ill, & his brethir come & made a medcyn & layd þer-vnto. 1464M. Paston in P. Lett. II. 160 For Goddys sake be war what medesyns ye take of any fysissyans of London. 1513Bradshaw St. Werburge ii. 853 All phisike and medicyns were founde to her in vayne. 1565T. Stapleton Fortr. Faith 110 b, The more he fancieth his metson, the better it shall proue with him. 1612Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 3 Have ready your medicines to bind up the wound again. 1657Trapp Comm. Job. xvi. 3 If the eye be inflamed, the mildest Medicine troubleth it. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 685 From the Founts where living Sulphurs boil, They mix a Med'cine to foment their Limbs. 1741–3Wesley Extract of Jrnl. (1749) 15 One of the mistresses lay..near death, having found no help from all the medicines she had taken. 1842A. Combe Physiol. Digestion (ed. 4) 369 The action of the bowels may be restored with little or no aid from medicine. 1850Tennyson in H. Tennyson Mem. (1897) I. 334 Having heard that Henry Taylor was ill, Carlyle rushed off from London to Sheen with a bottle of medicine.
transf.1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 600 Their old men..they strangle with an Oxe-taile, which medicine they minister likewise to those that have grieuous diseases.
b. Colloquially used spec. for: ‘A purging potion’ (Dunglison Med. Lex., 1857). Chiefly in to take († a) medicine. Cf. F. prendre (une) médecine.
1830Southey in For. Rev. & Cont. Misc. V. 290 On the day when signal was made for sailing, he had taken a medicine, which was in those times considered a more serious affair than it is now.
†c. A method or process of curative treatment.
1390Gower Conf. I. 267 So longe thei togedre dele, That thei upon this medicine Apointen hem..That..Thei wolde him bathe in childes blod. 1575Laneham Let. (1871) 35 Kings & Quéenz of this Realm, withoout oother medsin (saue only by handling & prayerz), only doo cure it [the king's evil].
†d. An effectual remedy, cure. Obs.
1390Gower Conf. I. 47 Ne hyd it noght, for if thou feignest, I can do the no medicine. c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 6140 Scho gat sone medecyne Of þe sekenes þat had hir pynde. 1529Rastell Pastyme (1811) 32 Arnold..was etyn with lyse, and coud have no medecin, and dyed.
e. fig. In 14–15th c. often applied to Christ or the Virgin Mary.
a1225Ancr. R. 164 Þuruh medicine of schrifte, & þuruh bireousunge. c1315Shoreham ii. 136 Suche a deaþ a [sc. he, Christ] vnder-ȝede, Of lyf þe medicine. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. i. 33 Mesure is Medicine þauh þou muche ȝeorne. c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 224 Medicyne for alle siche synne is, to be cloþid in Jesus Crist. c1440Jacob's Well 157 Medycyne here-of is, ferst to caste out þe wose of glotonye. c1450Holland Howlat 719 Haile moder of our maker, and medicyn of myss! 1522More De quat. Noviss. Wks. 93/1 To putte in proofe..thoperacion..of this medicine, the remembraunce of these foure last thinges. 1603Shakes. Meas. for M. iii. i. 2 The miserable haue no other medicine But onely hope. 1638Penit. Conf. vii. (1657) 161 If any of their sins were deemed fit by the Confessor to come abroad in publick, they were admitted to that publick Medicine. 1787Jefferson Writ. (1859) II. 194 It is, indeed, a strong medicine for sensible minds, but it is a medicine. 1842Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life (1870) III. ix. 157 He finds in constant employment a medicine for great grief.
f. to take one's medicine, to submit to or endure something disagreeable; to learn a lesson; a dose, taste, etc., of one's own (kind of) medicine, repayment or retaliation in kind; ‘tit for tat’.
1865A. D. Richardson Secret Service v. 75 The leaders refused to take their own medicine. 1894P. L. Ford Hon. Peter Stirling xxvii. 150 ‘He snubbed me..,’ explained Miss De Voe, smiling slightly at the thought of treating Peter with a dose of his own medicine. 1903N.Y. Times 21 Sept., Canada can do nothing—she must take her medicine and make the best of it. 1904‘O. Henry’ Cabbages & Kings xvii. 299 You go back and take your medicine like a man. 1939T. S. Eliot Family Reunion i. i. 18 Make him feel that what has happened doesn't matter. He's taken his medicine, I've no doubt. 1941V. Perdue Singing Clock (1945) viii. 52 It was only fair for them to get a taste of their own medicine. 1961L. van der Post Heart of Hunter i. vii. 111 Giving him some of his own medicine, I said: ‘How very charming of you!’ 1961C. Willock Death in Covert xii. 217, I set the spring-guns, sir... I'm willing to take my medicine for that... If it's found out..it'll make the other things look black for me. And them I did not do. 1968E. Gaines in A. Chapman New Black Voices (1972) 102 He ain't the first one they ever beat and he won't be the last one, and getting in it will just bring you a dose of the same medicine.
†3. Applied to drugs used for other than remedial purposes: e.g. to the philosopher's stone or elixir, to cosmetics, poisons, philtres, etc. Obs.
c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) vii. 24 If þaim think þam noȝt blak ynough when þai er borne, þai vse certayne medecynes for to make þam black withall. 1477Norton Ord. Alch. i. in Ashm. (1652) 20 But to make trew Silver or Gold is noe ingin, Except only the Philosophers medicine. 1555W. Watreman Fardle Facions ii. ix. N ij, Then enoint thei both that [sc. the body] and their face with certaine medicines..whereby thei become..slicke and smothe. Ibid. App. X viij b, No Israelite shall haue any medecine of death, ne otherwise made to do anye maner of hurte. 1580Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 337 Knowest thou not, that Fish caught with medicines, and women gotten with witchcraft are neuer wholesom? 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. ii. 19 If the Rascall haue not giuen me medicines to make me loue him, Ile be hang'd. 1601― All's Well v. iii. 102. 1604 ― Oth. i. iii. 61. 1615 Chapman Odyss. xii. 368 And as an Angler medcine for surprise Of little fish, sits powring from the rocks.
fig.c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 463 God haþ ordeyned medicyn to knowe falsed of anticrist.
4. a. Used to represent the terms applied in their native languages by North American Indians to denote any object or ceremony supposed by them to possess a magical influence; a spell, charm, fetish; sometimes = Manitou. Hence used, by later writers, to express the same or similar meanings as current among other primitive peoples. Also colloq. in phr. bad medicine, something or someone sinister or ill-fated.
As primitive peoples usually regard the operation of medicines as due to what we should call magic, it is probable that their words for magical agencies would often be first heard by outsiders as applied to medicine, and hence it would be natural that ‘medicine’ should be regarded as their primary sense.
1805Pike Sources Mississ. (1810) 17 This they called their great medicine; or as I understood the word, dance of religion. 1807P. Gass Jrnl. 44 He told them..he had more medecine..than would kill twenty such nations in one day. 1825G. Simpson Jrnl. in Fur Trade (1931) 136 Some of them have it that I am one of the ‘Master of Life's Sons’ sent to see ‘if their hearts were good’ and others that I am his ‘War Chief’ with bad medicine if their hearts were bad. 1841Catlin N. Amer. Ind. (1844) I. vi. 35 The word medicine..means mystery, and nothing else. 1850R. G. Cumming Hunter's Life S. Afr. (ed. 2) I. 274 They [the Bechuana tribes] also believe that for every transaction there is a medicine which will enable the possessor to succeed in his object. 1851Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. xxvi, All these are their ‘coats’ of arms, symbolical of the ‘medicine’ of the wearer. 1869Harper's Mag. Jan. 151/2 Will Comstock was sure that it was bad ‘medicine’ (luck) to camp on the Stinking Water. 1870Lubbock Orig. Civiliz. vii. (1875) 323 When he sleeps the first animal of which he dreams becomes his ‘medicine’. 1877Dodge Hunting Grounds Gt. West 399 It [a ‘scalp’] had been carefully cured, and peculiar value was set upon it as ‘big medicine’. 1945P. Cheyney I'll say she Does! ii. 38 I'd like to talk to him. He's bad medicine. 1964‘E. Peters’ Flight of Witch i. 25 ‘Did you know that outcrop of rock is known locally as the Altar?’..‘So that's it,’ he said. ‘Just bad medicine.’ 1969‘J. Morris’ Fever Grass xxiii. 214 When people like me..get together we can be bad medicine fer anybody from outside. 1973P. O'Donnell Silver Mistress xiii. 216 Momma's gotta go redundant. She's a great kid..but she's gonna be bad medicine on the run.
b. = medicine-man.
1817J. Bradbury Trav. Amer. 70 Eleven Sioux Indians, who had given or devoted their clothes to the medicine, ran into the camp. 1827J. F. Cooper Prairie II. xii. 199 The incantations of the medecine.
5. slang. Intoxicating drink. (Cf. lotion, poison.)
1851Mayhew Lond. Labour (1864) II. 24/1 As long as you can find young men that's conceited about their musical talents, fond of taking their medicine (drinking). 1891Farmer Slang s.v. Drinks, What's your medicine?
6. attrib. and Comb.
a. In sense 2: medicine bottle, medicine cabinet, medicine chest, medicine cupboard, medicine-dropper, medicine-mixer, medicine-monger, medicine-taker; medicine-like adj.; medicine ball, a stuffed leather ball which is thrown and caught to provide exercise; medicine glass, a small drinking-glass graduated for use in measuring medicines; medicine seal, stamp, a name for small cubical or oblong stones with inscriptions in intaglio, found among Roman remains, which seem to have been used by physicians for marking their drugs (also called oculist-stamp, oculist's stamp); medicine show N. Amer., a travelling show, in which entertainers attract customers to whom medicine can be sold; medicine tree, the horse-radish tree (see horse-radish 3).
1895Crescent (Brooklyn, N.Y.) 1 Nov. 14/1 While Charlie Notman opines that the ‘gym’ needs more *medicine ball, the few inoffensive ones now on hand are kicking for more ‘gym’. 1903W. L. Savage in Athletics & Outdoor Sports for Women 49 The illustrations below show two of the methods for passing medicine balls. 1930Bulletin 13 Feb. 8/2 The Prince of Wales..instead of indulging in..tennis and quoits, preferred to devote the time after tea to throwing the medicine ball. 1965G. McInnes Road to Gundagai x. 156 Down the middle of the hall three teams were competing at medicine ball. 1974J. Heller Something Happened 314 It was a relay race, and he was ten yards ahead,..carrying a heavy medicine ball.
1852Dickens Bleak Ho. (1853) v. 35 Quantities of dirty bottles: blacking bottles, *medicine bottles, [etc.]. 1862Chambers's Encycl. IV. 777/1 Medicine bottles.
1899Montgomery Ward Catal. 576/2 *Medicine cabinet, made of oak. 1922S. Lewis Babbitt i. 14 Above the set bowl was a..medicine cabinet. 1955W. Gaddis Recognitions ii. vii. 572 Esther set off with her to the bathroom, where they interrupted someone who was looking through the medicine cabinet. 1974M. Babson Stalking Lamb xiv. 93 The sleeping tablets..in the bathroom medicine cabinet.
1731in E. Singleton Social N.Y. under Georges (1902) 85 A very fine *Medicine Chest with great variety of valuable Medicines. 1828Rymer (title) A Treatise on Diet and Regimen..To which are added a Posological Table, or medicine chest directory [etc.]. 1841Marryat Masterman Ready xiii, The grindstone and Mrs. Seagrave's medicine chest were then landed. 1957P. Kemp Mine were of Trouble i. 6, I remember a bulky ‘medicine chest’ which seemed to contain chiefly iodine, quinine and cascara.
1907Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 131/3 Fumed oak *Medicine Cupboard..4/7. 1966A. E. Lindop I start Counting xiii. 151, I fled to the bathroom. I yanked open the medicine cupboard so hard that the mirror came off its hinges.
1898Allbutt's Syst. Med. V. 565 At short intervals by a spoon or *medicine-dropper, [he] should have small quantities of his mother's milk.
1853*Medicine glass [see bed table s.v. bed n. 19].
c1555Lady Vane Let. in Foxe A. & M. (1583) 1829 His sweetenesse..maketh al these poticary druggs of y⊇ world, euen *medicinelike in my mouth.
1860J. C. Jeaffreson Bk. about Doctors I. 79 The mean *medicine-mixers..dashing by in their carriages.
1651Wittie tr. Primrose's Pop. Err. i. iv. 13, I see no reason..that some divines may not be more learned than some *Medicine-mongers. 1795Fortnight's Ramble 33 Uncounted are the candidates for fame, who humbly crouched to this mock medicine-monger.
1851Simpson in Monthly Jrnl. Med. Sci. XII. 238 Roman *medicine-seals.
1938H. Asbury Sucker's Progress 355 Minnie and Colorado Charley then organized a *medicine show with which they traveled through Mexico and Central America. 1958P. Gammond Decca Bk. Jazz ix. 117 Thelonious Monk, passing through with a travelling medicine show, was once heard as an uncomplicated swing stylist there. 1962E. Lucia Klondike Kate 7 They travelled with medicine shows, carnivals, [etc.]. 1970P. Oliver Savannah Syncopators 96 With the demise of the work song, the blues became the song vehicle to accompany labour and, in earlier years, for the medicine show or the barber shop.
1849C. Roach Smith in Jrnl. Brit. Archæol. Assoc. IV. 280 On a Roman *medicine stamp..found at Kenchester. 1851Simpson in Monthly Jrnl. Med. Sci. XII. 39 Notices of ancient Roman Medicine-stamps..found in Great Britain.
1422tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 87 Yf þe sonne and þe mone bothe be yn tokenynge fleumatyk, lightly þe *medicyn takere shal forth lede.
1902Webster Suppl., *Medicine tree, the horse-radish tree.
b. In sense 4: medicine animal, medicine arrow, medicine bag, medicine bundle, medicine chief, medicine dance, medicine fast, medicine hunt, medicine lodge, medicine pipe, medicine pouch, medicine sack, medicine song, medicine stone; medicine line, a name given by American Indians to the border between Canada and the United States; medicine man, a magician or shaman among American Indians and other peoples; hence colloq., a doctor (cf. sense 2 a above); also transf. and fig.; medicine murder, murder committed to obtain parts of the body for ‘medicine’; ritual murder; medicine wolf U.S. = coyote; medicine woman, an Indian woman dealing in magic.
1871Tylor Prim. Cult. xv. II. 211 The worship paid by the North American Indian to his *medicine animal [etc.].
1877W. Matthews Ethnogr. Hidatsa 69 They stuck their *medicine-arrows in the ground.
1797C. Chaboillez Jrnl. in B. C. Payette Northwest (1964) [I] made him consent to go for his *Medicine Bag. 1801A. Henry Jrnl. in E. Coues New Light Hist. Greater Northwest (1897) I. 162 The fellow came accordingly with his drum and medicine bag. 1809A. Henry Trav. 122 One, who was a physician, immediately withdrew, in order to fetch his penegusan, or medicine-bag. 1865Milton & Cheadle N.W. Passage by Land iv. 66 The chief..dressed in a spangled shirt, a cap covered with many-coloured ribbons, and an elaborately-worked medicine-bag, rose and made an oration. 1971J. McDougall Parsons on Plains xix. 180 With their medicine-bags in hand they stood like statues.
1936Canad. Geogr. Jrnl. XII. 98/2 Wherever they went they carried with them a *medicine pipe and bundle upon the back of a milk-white steed. 1952Beaver Sept. 27 Medicine bundles, both personal and tribal, were of great importance. 1969Ibid. Summer 49/1 Each member had his own medicine bundle containing various items.
1851Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. xl. 312 One was the *medicine chief as I could tell by the flowing white hair.
1808Pike Sources Mississ. (1810) 132 Dr. Robinson and myself went to the Grand Village, at which we saw the great *medecine dance. 1855Longfellow Hiaw. xv. 145 Then they..Danced their medicine-dance around him.
1898A. Lang Making Relig. iii. 61 The *medicine-fast, at the age of puberty.
1887― Myth, Ritual, & Relig. II. 74 The ritual..is a mere *medicine-hunt.
1910A. L. Haydon Riders of Plains 95 The Indians..called the International Boundary the ‘*Medicine Line’, assuming that in the absence of any agreement between the two Governments relative to this crime, they were perfectly safe on one side of the line with regard to what had been done on the other. 1913L. V. Kelly Range Men 143 In their own tongue they [sc. Indians] called it the ‘medicine line’, and were very well pleased with the condition of affairs. Ibid. 162 The Canadian Indians were not entirely disappointed at the results of their own forays south of the ‘medicine line’. 1962W. Stegner Wolf Willow ii. vii. 96 By that time Crow and Gros Ventre and Sioux and Blackfoot and Assiniboin would already know that the ‘Medicine Line’, as they called it, was something potent in their lives. 1970Beaver Winter 28/1 In 1801 he was..just across the North Dakota medicine line, the magical boundary between Canada and the States. 1973R. D. Symons Where Wagon Led i. vii. 110 The various ranch outfits would make up big trail herds and move them across the Medicine Line.
1808C. Mackenzie in L. R. Masson Les Bourgeois (1889) I. 354 The women were directed to go into the woods for branches to cover the *Medecine lodge. 1814Brackenridge Jrnl. in Views Louisiana 258 A great number of girls were collected before the medecine lodge or temple. 1901F. H. Giddings Inductive Sociol. 207 Religious Societies—..In North American Indian tribes, they are known as Medicine Lodges. 1944Beaver June 35 At the end of the medicine lodge inside, Moanday erects two poles, a cross-bar between. At the foot of each pole he lays the body of a dog he has killed.
1801A. Henry Jrnl. in E. Coues New Light Hist. Greater Northwest (1897) I. 162 An Indian who pretended to be a *medicine man was employed by Maymiutch to cure his sick brother. 1817J. Bradbury Trav. Amer. 116, I was accosted by the Medicine Man, or doctor. 1855Longfellow Hiaw. xv. 87 The medicine-men, the Medas. 1890E. Dowson Let. 10 Oct. (1967) 170 In spite of my rooted aversion to the genre I shall have to call in a medicine-man. 1898G. B. Shaw Doctors' Delusions (1932) 107 Out of sheer credulity as to the infallibility of the medicine man, we are drifting into a legal procedure which relieves them from all necessity to gain our confidence by the good they do us. 1922Joyce Ulysses 16 She bows her old head to a voice that speaks to her loudly, her bonesetter, her medicine-man. 1939J. Dillard in A. Dundes Mother Wit (1973) 278/2 Medicine men..falsify their experience..in order to qualify for their craft. 1947Auden Age of Anxiety (1948) iii. 72 The medicine men who keep this body Politic free from fevers, Cancer and constipation. 1961Listener 20 Apr. 683/2 He [sc. a foreign correspondent] has, like a medium or a circus medicine man, simply to go into a trance to pronounce what ‘the’ American people feel about it all. 1965R. & D. Morris Men & Snakes ii. 46 A double-sexed two-headed snake named Sachan..was the typical emblem of the Near Eastern and Mediterranean medicine man. 1966B. Kimenye Kalasanda Revisited 92 The medicine man at Nakivubo bus park had a fresh supply of snuff. 1974Wodehouse Aunts aren't Gentlemen iii. 17, I was a bit early for my appointment, and was informed on arrival that the medicine man was tied up for the moment with another gentleman.
[1947Times 25 Oct. 3/5 Seventeen Africans were sentenced to death in two cases..here today for committing murder for ‘medicine’.] 1952Basutoland 1951 (H.M.S.O.) ix. 57 During 1951 fourteen trial cases..were heard by the High Court. Two of these cases dealt with the crime known as *Medicine Murder. 1966New Statesman 25 Feb. 265/1 A chapter..on the abominations of ‘medicine murder’.
1833G. Catlin N. Amer. Indians (1841) I. 111 At that hour.., with *medicine-pipes in his hands and foxes tails attached to his heels, entered Mah-to-he-hah (the old bear). 1971J. McDougall Parsons on Plains xii. 110 First, The oldest conjuror took the big medicine pipe with the long stem.
1855Longfellow Hiaw. xv. 143 Then they shook their *medicine-pouches O'er the head of Hiawatha.
a1831J. Smith Jrnl. in M. S. Sullivan Trav. J. Smith (1934) 5 You observe at the door [of the Indian Lodge] three straight and handsome poles set up in a triangular form and joined together at the top, on which is suspended the *medicine sack of the owner, consisting of such things as he fancies to possess a certain undefined charm. 1883‘Mark Twain’ Life on Mississippi 613 See my medicine-sack and my war club tied to it.
1809A. Henry Trav. 119 In his hand, he had his shishiquoi, or rattle, with which he beat time to his *medicine-song.
1885Henshaw in Amer. Jrnl. Archæol. I. 110 The use of the *medicine-stones among the San Buenaventura Indians.
1837W. Irving Capt. Bonneville II. xv. 147 This little, whining, feast-smelling animal, is..called among Indians the ‘*medicine wolf’. 1846[see coyote]. 1860E. J. Lewis in Colorado Mag. (1938) XV. 30 Went up town and saw a young grizzly bear, a young swift or medicine wolf much resembling a fox.
1834Knickerbocker IV. 372 The mother evinced her sagacity, as a diviner or *medicine woman. 1836Ibid. VIII. 152 It was at the wigwam of an old Indian ‘medicine-woman’ that I stopped.
▪ II. † ˈmedicine, n.2 Obs.
[a. F. médecin, ad. late L. medicīnus adj. (see prec.) used absol. as n.]
A medical practitioner. Also fig.
a1450Knt. de la Tour 137 She hadde her medicines and surgens forto hele and medicine alle such as were needfulle. 1484Caxton Fables of æsop (1889) 66, I dyssymyled and fayned my self to be a medycyn. 1545T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde 92 Aske, and vse the aduyse of some wel learned medicine [ed. 1634 ii. vii. 139 medicioner]. 1601Shakes. All's Well ii. i. 75, I haue seen a medicine That's able to breath life into a stone. 1632Lithgow Trav. viii. 370 [There] flourished the most famous medicines, and Philosophers.
▪ III. medicine, v.|ˈmɛds(ə)n, ˈmɛdɪsɪn, -s(ə)n|
Forms: see medicine n.1
[a. OF. medeciner (mod.F. médeciner), f. medecine medicine n.1]
1. trans. To heal or cure by medicinal means; to administer medicine to.
a1450[see medicine n.2]. 1484Caxton Fables of æsop (1889) 62 He desyred to be medycyned and made hole of his foote. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 149 Afore they go to pasture, they [pigs] must be medecined. 1595Spenser Col. Clout 877 Being hurt, seeke to be medicynd Of her that first did stir that mortall stownd. 1605Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xxii. §6 As in medicining of the body, it is in order first to know the divers complexions and constitutions..; so in medicining of the mind [etc.]. 1877Ruskin Fors Clav. lxxv. VII. 75 It [a dog] was warmed and medicined as best might be. 1889J. Masterman Scotts of Bestminster III. xiv. 29 She could medicine the sick.
b. nonce-use. To bring by medicinal virtue to.
1604Shakes. Oth. iii. iii. 332 Not Poppy, nor Mandragora..Shall euer medicine thee to that sweete sleepe Which thou owd'st yesterday. 1820Shelley Witch Atl. xvii.
2. transf. and fig.
1593R. Bancroft Daung. Posit. iii. xv. 127 To medicine these mischiefes. 1601Holland Pliny I. 544 All remedies to others are mischiefs to it [the cypress tree], and in one word, go about to medicine it you kil it. 1611Shakes. Cymb. iv. ii. 243 Great greefes I see med'cine the lesse. 1645Milton Tetrach. Wks. 1851 IV. 201 Thus med'cining our eyes wee need not doubt to see more into the meaning of these our Saviours words. c1750Shenstone Elegies xx. 68 Where ev'ry breeze shall med'cine ev'ry wound. 1868E. Edwards Ralegh I. xxii. 504 Cares, as usual with Ralegh, were medicined by strenuous and varied labour.
3. nonce-use. To employ as medicine.
1654Gayton Pleas. Notes iii. iii. 78 Get me these ingredients..Such as the bearded sonne of the smooth-chinn'd Father Apollo us'd and medicin'd.
Hence † medicined ppl. a., medicated, drugged.
1558T. Phaer æneid. vi. Argt., æneas..casting Cerberus in a sleape with a medcined soppe. a1637B. Jonson Underwoods lviii, As men drinke up In hast the bottome of a med'cin'd Cup, And take some sirrup after. |