cantharides

American  

[kan-thar-i-deez] / kænˈθær ɪˌdiz /

plural noun

singular

cantharis

1. Spanish fly.

2. cantharis. Spanish fly.

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cantharides British  

/ 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

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Etymology

Origin of cantharides

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

Example Sentences

Treatment.—The treatment for inflammation of the vein is to clip the hair from along the course of the affected vessel and apply a blister, the cerate of cantharides.

From Special Report on Diseases of Cattle by United States. Bureau of Animal Industry

M. M. Tincture of cantharides, opium, alum, sorbentia.

From Zoonomia, Vol. II Or, the Laws of Organic Life by Darwin, Erasmus

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

From A System of Practical Medicine by American Authors, Vol. I Volume 1: Pathology and General Diseases by Various

Powdered capsicums and cantharides have also seemed to touch the disease; but no one medicine has to me appeared to have any specific influence over it.

From The Dog by Dinks

Tincture of cantharides, or repeated blisters; afterwards opiates in small doses, and the bark.

From Zoonomia, Vol. II Or, the Laws of Organic Life by Darwin, Erasmus