quacksalver

American  

[kwak-sal-ver] / ˈkwækˌsæl vər /

noun

1. a quack doctor.

2. a charlatan.

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quacksalver British  

/ ˈkwækˌsælvə /

noun

1. an archaic word for quack 2

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Etymology

Origin of quacksalver

1570–80; < early Dutch (now kwakzalver ); see quack ¹, salve ¹, -er ¹

Example Sentences

To Johnson, a flatterer was a "claw-back"; a bad doctor, a "quacksalver."

From Time Magazine Archive

"Pshaw! he is a quacksalver, and mountebank, and beggar."

From Peveril of the Peak by Scott, Walter, Sir

"In other words," said Tressilian, "he was a quacksalver and common cheat; but what has all this to do with my nag, and the shoe which he has lost?"

From Kenilworth by Scott, Walter, Sir

The answers were given with a solemn self-complacency, not unmixed with that shrewdness which was an essential attribute to the success of the ancient quacksalver.

From Rob of the Bowl, Vol. I (of 2) A Legend of St. Inigoe's by Kennedy, John P.

The bolster wrapped round his nose and the two ends kissed behind his head, and his forehead resounded, and had he been Goliath, or Julius Caesar, instead of an old quacksalver, down he had gone.

From The Cloister and the Hearth by Reade, Charles