theriac
Americannoun
-
molasses; treacle.
-
a paste formerly used as an antidote to poison, especially snake venom, made from 60 or 70 different drugs pulverized and mixed with honey.
noun
Other Word Forms
- theriacal adjective
Etymology
Origin of theriac
before 1000; < Latin thēriaca antidote to poison < Greek thēriakḗ, feminine of thēriakós, equivalent to thērí ( on ) wild beast + -akos -ac; replacing Middle English tiriake, Old English tȳriaca < Medieval Latin, variant of thēriaca
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.
But we lawyers boil our theriac even nowadays and regard the most important study, the study of reality, with arrogance.
From Criminal Psychology; a manual for judges, practitioners, and students by Gross, Hans Gustav Adolf
In the second period of the distemper, the same drinks were continued, adding thereto some theriac or Jesuit's bark, in order to lessen the frequency of the diarrhœtic evacuations.
From On the cattle plague: or, Contagious typhus in horned cattle. Its history, origin, description, and treatment by Bourguignon, Honor?
Jack of the Buttery, a name applied to p. 111Sedum acre, is said to be a corruption from bot, i.e. an internal parasite, and theriac, by which was meant a cure for that evil.
From Springtime and Other Essays by Darwin, Francis, Sir
Bernard's Theriac.—Almost in our own time another theriac came prominently before the public.
From Psychotherapy by Walsh, James J. (James Joseph)
Being, however, provided with theriac and other antidotes against the poison, Alvaro and all his men recovered from their wounds.
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.
