purgative
[pur-guh-tiv]
- purging or cleansing, especially by causing evacuation of the bowels.
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- a purgative medicine or agent; cathartic.
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Origin of purgative
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for purgative
Contemporary Examples
That makes the playing of a football game not purgative but grotesque in the current context.
Historical Examples
For the present he can but prescribe a purgative and a massage of the arm and spine.
The Book of KhalidAmeen Rihani
The next morning administer a purgative dose of oil or salts.
The Physical Life of Woman:Dr. George H Napheys
A decoction of the leaves is purgative and is used in lead colic.
The Medicinal Plants of the PhilippinesT. H. Pardo de Tavera
Ainslie states that the decoction is employed as a vermifuge and purgative.
The Medicinal Plants of the PhilippinesT. H. Pardo de Tavera
The working of purgative physic is violent and contrary to nature.
Devotions Upon Emergent OccasionsJohn Donne
purgative
- a drug or agent for purging the bowels
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- causing evacuation of the bowels; cathartic
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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
Word Origin and History for purgative
adj.
late 14c., from Old French purgatif (14c.) and directly from Late Latin purgativus, from purgat-, past participle stem of Latin purgare (see purge (v.)). The noun is attested from early 15c. (Old English medical texts have clænsungdrenc).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
purgative
(pûr′gə-tĭv)- An agent used for purging the bowels.
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- Tending to cause evacuation of the bowels.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.