menstruum
Americannoun
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menstruums,
plural
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menstrua
plural
noun
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a solvent, esp one used in the preparation of a drug
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a solid formulation of a drug
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of menstruum
First recorded in 1350–1400; special use of Middle English menstruum “monthly period,” from Medieval Latin, from Latin (usually in plural mēnstrua); see menstrual, moon ( def. )
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:
Gum resins and essential oils were found to be insoluble in this menstruum, and hence such drugs have been given in the form of pill, powder or mixture.
From Alcohol: A Dangerous and Unnecessary Medicine, How and Why What Medical Writers Say by Martha Meir Allen
Dr. E. R. Squibb, a leading pharmacist of Brooklyn, stated that during the last two or three years much had been accomplished in retiring alcohol as a menstruum for exhausting drugs.
From Alcohol: A Dangerous and Unnecessary Medicine, How and Why What Medical Writers Say by Martha Meir Allen
"Nothing but the sharpest essence of villainy compounded with the strongest distillation of folly, could have produced a menstruum that would have effected a separation."
From Junius Unmasked or, Thomas Paine the author of the Letters of Junius and the Declaration of Independence by Joel Moody
Drink, my children; health consists in the suppleness and humectation of the parts: drink water in great abundance: it is an universal menstruum that dissolves all kinds of salt.
From French Classics by William Cleaver Wilkinson
We might be told of the early history of Chemistry, when alchemists sought in their concoctions a panacea for all human evils, and in their crucibles an alkalest or universal menstruum.
From Modern Atheism under its forms of Pantheism, Materialism, Secularism, Development, and Natural Laws by James Buchanan
Of the other menstrua experimented with up to the present time, that which had given the best results was acetic acid, in various strengths.
From Alcohol: A Dangerous and Unnecessary Medicine, How and Why What Medical Writers Say by Martha Meir Allen
Cellulose is insoluble in all menstrua, but, when boiled for a long time with sulphuric acid, is converted into a substance called dextrine.
From Elements of Agricultural Chemistry by Thomas Anderson
Distinguishable by good eyes! very heavy, fusible, soluble in appropriate acid menstrua; as molybdæna, lead, gold, and copper.
From Lives of Eminent Zoologists, from Aristotle to Linnæus with Introductory remarks on the Study of Natural History by William MacGillivray
If it proceed from putrified blood, let her be bled in the foot, and then strengthen the womb, as I have directed in stopping the menstrua.
If the barrenness proceeds from stoppage of the menstrua, let the woman sweat, for that opens the parts; and the best way to sweat is in a hot-house.
It seems therefore very probable, that those colours which are made by the precipitation of those particles out of the menstruums by transparent precipitating liquors should be transparent also.
From Micrographia Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses with Observations and Inquiries Thereupon by Robert Hooke
Alkalis have a stronger affinity with acids than metals have with them; so that they will precipitate them from their solutions in acid menstruums.
From Heads of Lectures on a Course of Experimental Philosophy: Particularly Including Chemistry by Joseph Priestley
And next, the Solution of all Metals into menstruums are much the same with the Vitriols, or Crystals.
From Micrographia Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses with Observations and Inquiries Thereupon by Robert Hooke
And generally I find, that Saline menstruums are most operative upon those colours that are Purple, or have some degree of Purple in them, and upon the other colours much less.
From Micrographia Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses with Observations and Inquiries Thereupon by Robert Hooke
Secondly, that this action it performs not, till the body be first sufficiently heated, as we find requisite also to the dissolution of many other bodies by several other menstruums.
From Micrographia Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses with Observations and Inquiries Thereupon by Robert Hooke
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