any substance or substances used in treating disease or illness; medicament; remedy.
the art or science of restoring or preserving health or due physical condition, as by means of drugs, surgical operations or appliances, or manipulations: often divided into medicine proper, surgery, and obstetrics.
the art or science of treating disease with drugs or curative substances, as distinguished from surgery and obstetrics.
British Dictionary definitions for take one's medicine
medicine
noun
any drug or remedy for use in treating, preventing, or alleviating the symptoms of disease
the science of preventing, diagnosing, alleviating, or curing disease
any nonsurgical branch of medical science
the practice or profession of medicinehe's in medicine Related adjectives: Aesculapian, iatric
something regarded by primitive people as having magical or remedial properties
take one's medicineto accept a deserved punishment
a taste of one's own medicineora dose of one's own medicinean unpleasant experience in retaliation for and by similar methods to an unkind or aggressive act
Word Origin for medicine
C13: via Old French from Latin medicīna (ars) (art of) healing, from medicus doctor, from medērī to heal
c.1200, "medical treatment, cure, remedy," also used figuratively, of spiritual remedies, from Old French medecine (Modern French médicine) "medicine, art of healing, cure, treatment, potion," from Latin medicina "the healing art, medicine; a remedy," also used figuratively, perhaps originally ars medicina "the medical art," from fem. of medicinus (adj.) "of a doctor," from medicus "a physician" (see medical); though OED finds evidence for this is wanting. Meaning "a medicinal potion or plaster" in English is mid-14c.
To take (one's) medicine "submit to something disagreeable" is first recorded 1865. North American Indian medicine-man "shaman" is first attested 1801, from American Indian adoption of the word medicine in sense of "magical influence." The U.S.-Canadian boundary they called Medicine Line (first attested 1910), because it conferred a kind of magic protection: punishment for crimes committed on one side of it could be avoided by crossing over to the other. Medicine show "traveling show meant to attract a crowd so patent medicine can be sold to them" is American English, 1938. Medicine ball "stuffed leather ball used for exercise" is from 1889.
It is called a "medicine ball" and it got that title from Prof. Roberts, now of Springfield, whose fame is widespread, and whose bright and peculiar dictionary of terms for his prescription department in physical culture is taught in every first-class conducted Y.M.C.A. gymnasium in America. Prof. Roberts calls it a "medicine ball" because playful exercise with it invigorates the body, promotes digestion, and restores and preserves one's health. ["Scientific American Supplement," March 16, 1889]
Put up with unpleasantness, learn one's lesson. For example, After failing math, he had to take his medicine and go to summer school. This idiom uses medicine in the sense of “a bitter-tasting remedy.” [Mid-1800s]
medicine
see dose of one's own medicine; take one's medicine.
