abstersive

[ab-stur-siv]

adjective

1. abstergent.

Other Word Forms

• abstersiveness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of abstersive¹

1400–50; late Middle English (< Middle French ) < Medieval Latin abstersīvus, equivalent to Latin absters ( us ), past participle of abstergēre ( abstergent ) + -īvus -ive

Example Sentences

The strong abstersive of some heroic magistrate.

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The quality of being abstersive.

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They used it first, as Pownall the local historian tells you, "as a vulnerary and abstersive," and healed wounds with it; then some labourers accidentally drank it, and Epsom's fortune was made.

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All the parts of this tree are abstersive, and therefore sovereign for the consolidating wounds; and asswage the pains of the gout: But the bark decocted in common water, to almost the consistence of a syrup, adding a third part of aqua vitæ, is a most admirable remedy for the ischiadicæ or hip-pain, the place being well rubb’d and chaf’d by the fire.

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A tablet stood of that abstersive tree,   Where Aethiop's swarthy bird did build her nest; Inlaid it was with Libyan ivory,   Drawn from the jaws of Afric's prudent beast.

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