menstruum

American  

[men-stroo-uhm, -struhm] / ˈmɛn stru əm, -strəm /

noun

menstruums, plural menstrua plural

1. a solvent.

---

menstruum British  

/ ˈmɛnstrʊəm /

noun

1. a solvent, esp one used in the preparation of a drug

2. a solid formulation of a drug

---

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• menstruums
  plural
• menstrua
  plural

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

First, that the Air in which we live, move, and breath, and which encompasses very many, and cherishes most bodies it encompasses, that this Air is the menstruum, or universal dissolvent of all Sulphureous bodies.

From Micrographia Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses with Observations and Inquiries Thereupon by Hooke, Robert

In the latter case a menstruum with considerable body, such as molasses or flaxseed tea or milk, will help to hold solids or oils in suspension until swallowed.

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

Lastly, That as this fluid state had not been the effect of solution in a menstruum, it must have been fluidity from heat and fusion.

From Theory of the Earth, Volume 1 (of 4) by Hutton, James

We can get the pure menstruum by letting the pigment settle, and the pure pigment by pouring off the size or oil.

From Essays in Radical Empiricism by James, William

"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 Moody, Joel