poultice
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
noun
-
Also called: cataplasm. med a local moist and often heated application for the skin consisting of substances such as kaolin, linseed, or mustard, used to improve the circulation, treat inflamed areas, etc
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slang a large sum of money, esp a debt
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of poultice
1535–45; earlier pultes, plural (taken as singular) of Latin puls (stem pult- ) thick pap. See pulse 2
Explanation
The next time you have a cut or an infection, maybe you should put some cereal on it. A poultice is a soft material — often cereal-like — used for healing. Think of a poultice as a mushy, sticky bandage. If you have a wound, infection, rash, or inflammation, you will probably cover it with a bandage or apply medicine to it: a poultice may accomplish both at once. Used in many cultures, a poultice may be mixed with medicine or heated. It can be made of clay, porridge, or even bread! Not surprisingly, the word poultice can be traced to the Latin route puls, meaning “porridge” or "a warm cereal.
Vocabulary lists containing poultice
Romeo and Juliet
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Animal Farm
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The Pearl
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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.
I was a middle-class kid from New Jersey, but like a poultice, this ancient, colonized country drew out an answering difference from my bones.
From Salon • May 27, 2024
After researchers saw Rakus applying the plant poultice to his face, the wound closed up and healed in a month.
From BBC • May 2, 2024
Dampen the stone, apply the poultice a half-inch thick, then cover it with plastic and tape down the edges.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 29, 2022
Whatever he’s suffering from, thank goodness the Grand Maester was around to reject the maester intern’s herbal poultice in favor of another leeching.
From New York Times • Sep. 18, 2022
She lifted the poultice of seaweed and looked at the shoulder.
From "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
