ipecac

American  

[ip-i-kak] / ˈɪp ɪˌkæk /

Also ipecacuanha

noun

1. the dried root of a shrubby South American plant, Cephaelis ipecacuanha, of the madder family.

2. the plant itself.

3. a drug consisting of the dried roots of this plant, used as an emetic, purgative, etc., and as the source of emetine.

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Etymology

Origin of ipecac

1780–90, short for ipecacuanha < Portuguese < Tupi ipekaaguéne, equivalent to ipeh low + kaâ leaves + guéne vomit

Example Sentences

Indeed there is something effluvial about the entire book, as if the #MeToo movement provided her, narratively speaking, with a stiff dose of ipecac syrup.

From New York Times • Oct. 2, 2022

The latest installment of “Fargo” is as weird as ever, with thugs, do-gooders and an Oraetta-baked pie that she memorably laces with vomit-inducing ipecac.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 25, 2020

It is an ice cream sundae laced with ipecac, delectable and poisonous all at once.

From Slate • Jun. 29, 2015

Quinine, aspirin, codeine, ipecac, and pseudoephedrine are among the common remedies that, according to Cox and Balick, we owe to ethnobotanists guided and informed by indigenous peoples.

From The New Yorker • Mar. 23, 2015

To-day most young mothers hardly know the name of wine of ipecac or alum, and the coughs of young children awaken little more terror than a similar sound in an adult.

From Preventable Diseases by Hutchinson, Woods