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calefacient

[kal-uh-fey-shuh nt]
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noun
  1. Medicine/Medical. a substance, as mustard, that produces a sensation of heat when applied to the body.
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adjective
  1. heating; warming.
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Origin of calefacient

1655–65; < Latin calefacient- (stem of calefaciēns, present participle of calefacere to make warm), equivalent tocale- warm (stem of calēre to be warm) + -facient- -facient
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for calefacient

Historical Examples

  • And it torments my woman-flesh with calefacient thrills fierce and goading and sweet.

    I, Mary MacLane

    Mary MacLane

British Dictionary definitions for calefacient

calefacient

adjective
  1. causing warmth
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noun
  1. med obsolete an agent that warms, such as a mustard plaster
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Derived Formscalefaction (ˌkælɪˈfækʃən), noun

Word Origin

C17: from Latin calefaciēns, from calefacere to heat
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
calefacient in Medicine

calefacient

(kăl′ə-fā′shənt)
adj.
  1. Causing a sense of warmth.
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n.
  1. An agent that produces a sense of warmth in the part to which it is applied.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.