cantharides

[kan-thar-i-deez]

plural noun

singular

cantharis 

1. Spanish fly.

2. cantharis. Spanish fly.

cantharides

/ kænˈθærɪˌdiːz /

plural noun

1. Also called: Spanish fly. a diuretic and urogenital stimulant or irritant prepared from the dried bodies of Spanish fly (family Meloidae, not Cantharidae ), once thought to be an aphrodisiac

Word History and Origins

Origin of cantharides¹

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin, plural of cantharis < Greek kantharís blister fly

Word History and Origins

Origin of cantharides¹

C15: from Latin, plural of cantharis, from Greek kantharis Spanish fly

Example Sentences

A dangerous compound of the latter sort introduced during the first epidemic of cholera in this country became officinal under the name of liniment of cantharides.

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Cantharides has been recommended, and it is stated that when strangury is produced the whoop will cease; we should consider this rather severe treatment.

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In rare cases either albumen or sugar has been detected; the former may have been due to the action of blisters of cantharides used in the treatment of the disease.

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Jackson long before had mentioned, as one of the eruptions belonging to this disease, "large bull�, as if produced by cantharides."

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As early as 1826, Bretonneau, by the introduction of tincture of cantharides and olive oil into the trachea, succeeded in producing a "dense, elastic, reed-like membranous concretion."

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