laudanum

[ lawd-n-uhm, lawd-nuhm ]

noun

1. a tincture of opium.
2. Obsolete. any preparation in which opium is the chief ingredient.

laudanum

/ ˈlɔːdənəm /

noun

1. a tincture of opium
2. (formerly) any medicine of which opium was the main ingredient

Word History and Origins

Origin of laudanum¹

1595–1605; originally Medieval Latin variant of ladanum; arbitrarily used by Paracelsus to name a remedy based on opium

Word History and Origins

Origin of laudanum¹

C16: New Latin, name chosen by Paracelsus for a preparation probably containing opium, perhaps based on labdanum

Example Sentences

To ease his pain, he may have used laudanum, an opium drug.

From Literature

Meanwhile, dissolving opium in alcohol to make laudanum, the method of ingestion preferred by Victorian ladies, was still permitted.

From Seattle Times

He had been an anesthetic, a way to numb the pain of my father’s death as well as any laudanum.

From Literature

Upon arrival on the New York side, he was carried to the nearby home of James Bayard, a longtime friend and political disciple, where Hosack administered liberal doses of laudanum and waited for the end.

From Literature

After Mrs. Caruthers’s dose of laudanum the day before, there hadn’t been much left in the bottle; soon enough, Ophie’s days would be cluttered once more with stepping and fetching for the old woman.

From Literature

Related Words

• anesthetic
• dope
• hard drug
• heroin
• merchandise
• opiate
• opium
• painkiller
• sedative
• tranquilizer