LAUDANUM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does laudanum mean? 

• LAUDANUM (noun)
  The noun LAUDANUM has 1 sense:

1. narcotic consisting of an alcohol solution of opium or any preparation in which opium is the main ingredient

  Familiarity information: LAUDANUM used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LAUDANUM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Narcotic consisting of an alcohol solution of opium or any preparation in which opium is the main ingredient

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

laudanum; tincture of opium

Hypernyms ("laudanum" is a kind of...):

opiate (a narcotic drug that contains opium or an opium derivative)

 Context examples 

“Bravo, old ’un, one of those will be a dose of laudanum if you get it home,” cried Belcher.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There was no need to think them dead, for their stertorous breathing and the acrid smell of laudanum in the room left no doubt as to their condition.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Ever since my recovery from the fever, I had been in the custom of taking every night a small quantity of laudanum, for it was by means of this drug only that I was enabled to gain the rest necessary for the preservation of life.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

That, marching him constantly up and down by the collar (as if he had been taking too much laudanum), she, at those times, shook him, rumpled his hair, made light of his linen, stopped his ears as if she confounded them with her own, and otherwise tousled and maltreated him.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De Quincey’s description of his dreams and sensations, he had drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the same effects.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It smelt of laudanum, and looking on the sideboard, I found that the bottle which mother's doctor uses for her—oh! did use—was empty.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)