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gum ammoniac

American  

noun

  1. a brownish-yellow gum resin, having an acrid taste, occurring in tearlike fragments from a plant, Dorema ammoniacum, of western Asia: used in porcelain ceramics and in medicine as an expectorant and counterirritant.


gum ammoniac British  

noun

  1. another name for ammoniac 2

"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

Etymology

Origin of gum ammoniac

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Expectorants, as squill, onions, gum ammoniac, seneka root, mucilage: some of these increase the pulmonary perspiration, and perhaps the pulmonary mucus.

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

I was afraid to push the Digitalis in so hazardous a subject, and therefore directed tinct. amara with tinct. canthar. and pills of squill, seneka, salt of tartar and gum ammoniac.

From An Account of the Foxglove and some of its Medical Uses With Practical Remarks on Dropsy and Other Diseases by William Withering

The 44 pounds of gum ammoniac was reported "damaged," and the 86 pounds of rhubarb was described as "bad."

From Drug Supplies in the American Revolution by George B. Griffenhagen

He took chrystals of tartar, seneka, gum ammoniac, saline draughts, emetics, tinct. of cantharides, spirits of nitre dulcified, squills in all forms, volatile alkaly, calomel, Dover's powder, &c.

From An Account of the Foxglove and some of its Medical Uses With Practical Remarks on Dropsy and Other Diseases by William Withering

Take of garlic two cloves, of gum ammoniac, one drachm; blend them by bruising together.

From The Fair Play Settlers of the West Branch Valley, 1769-1784 A Study of Frontier Ethnography by George D. Wolf

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