theriac
Americannoun
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molasses; treacle.
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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
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.
There he found that the most called for remedy was a theriac.
From Psychotherapy by Walsh, James J. (James Joseph)
Bernard's Theriac.—Almost in our own time another theriac came prominently before the public.
From Psychotherapy by Walsh, James J. (James Joseph)
Ancient medicine looked first of all for the universal panacea and boiled theriac; contemporary medicine dissects, uses the microscope, and experiments, recognizes no panacea, accepts barely a few specifics.
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?
The doctors found that the Morholt had thrust into him a poisoned barb, and as their potions and their theriac could never heal him they left him in God’s hands.
From The Romance of Tristan and Iseult by Belloc, Hilaire
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.
