NOSTRUM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does nostrum mean? 

• NOSTRUM (noun)
  The noun NOSTRUM has 2 senses:

1. hypothetical remedy for all ills or diseases; once sought by the alchemists

2. patent medicine whose efficacy is questionable

  Familiarity information: NOSTRUM used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• NOSTRUM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Hypothetical remedy for all ills or diseases; once sought by the alchemists

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

catholicon; cure-all; nostrum; panacea

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

curative; cure; remedy; therapeutic (a medicine or therapy that cures disease or relieve pain)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "nostrum"):

elixir (a substance believed to cure all ills)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Patent medicine whose efficacy is questionable

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

patent medicine (medicine that is protected by a patent and available without a doctor's prescription)

 Context examples 

Though, indeed, the vendor of a certain nostrum has vulgarised the truism to the very point of contempt. Isn't that true, doctor?

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Was it not she who was said to lay hands upon the sick and raise them from their couches when the leeches had spent their last nostrums?

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)