1350–1400; Middle English: philosophers' stone < Medieval Latin magnēsia < Greek ( hē ) Magnēsía ( líthos ) (the stone) of Magnesia; sense development obscure
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Q: I’ve tried applying milk of magnesia to my underarms for the last two weeks.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 19, 2022
For me, the milk of magnesia seems especially effective in fighting the rash.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 28, 2021
She distributed goggles, masks, first-aid supplies and milk of magnesia, which is diluted with water to ease the sting of tear gas.
From New York Times ● Jun. 2, 2020
But then some people we’d never met saw us and said, we have some milk of magnesia.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 2, 2020
In his spare time, Louie crashed society weddings, worked as a movie extra, and harassed his housemates with practical jokes, replacing their deviled ham with cat food and milk with milk of magnesia.
From "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand
The worst area affected is the central coastal region of Magnesia, which meteorologists said had seen as much rainfall in 24 hours as it usually experienced during an entire autumn.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2023
Since Wednesday, officials have ordered the evacuation of several communities in the hard-hit area of Magnesia, a coastal area north of Athens.
From Reuters ● Jul. 27, 2023
In 190 BCE, Roman armies smashed the forces of Antiochus III at the Battle of Magnesia in western Asia Minor.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
My grandmother nearly poisoned herself when she mistakenly drank cleaning fluid, thinking it was Milk of Magnesia; both were milky fluids in blue bottles, and she could not read English.
From New York Times ● Aug. 19, 2013
We know nothing more, except that he did not stay long in Magnesia, but went on to another place where barbarians or semi-barbarians were ruled by a Greek dynasty.
From Euripedes and His Age by Murray, Gilbert
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
