lozenge
Americannoun
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a small, flavored tablet made from sugar or syrup, often medicated, originally diamond-shaped.
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Geometry Now Rare. diamond.
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Heraldry.
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a diamond-shaped charge.
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a diamond-shaped shield bearing the arms of a woman.
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noun
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Also called: pastille. troche. med a medicated tablet held in the mouth until it has dissolved
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geometry another name for rhombus
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heraldry a diamond-shaped charge
Etymology
Origin of lozenge
1300–50; Middle English losenge < Middle French, Old French, perhaps < Gaulish *lausa flat stone + -enge < Germanic -inga -ing 3
Explanation
A lozenge is a kind of medicated candy that soothes your sore throat. If you've got a dry cough, you should drink some water and try sucking on a lozenge. You might call a lozenge a "cough drop" or "pastille." Some have ingredients that ease the scratchy throat that causes coughing, and others are meant to relieve the discomfort of a sore throat. The word lozenge can also refer to a diamond shape. The tile on your bathroom floor might be a pattern of blue and white lozenges. Throat lozenges were originally diamond-shaped, hence the name.
Vocabulary lists containing lozenge
The Chocolate Touch
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Novel Study: Fahrenheit 451, Part I
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"The Grasshopper and the Bell Cricket," Vocabulary from the short story
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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’s always a lozenge in my bag, just in case.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 19, 2024
It is an enormous yellow lozenge moored to the seafloor with two giant turbines attached on what look like great wings.
From BBC • Oct. 21, 2023
Those five geese were in balance with a black lozenge and a blue lozenge at the other end of the crossbar.
From Washington Post • Sep. 28, 2022
In fact, it was a throat soothing lozenge made with an extract of the marshmallow root long before it became a confection without even a hint of real marshmallow.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 7, 2022
“Now, Mother, I haven’t troubled Constance with any of that nonsense. There’s nothing to tell, really. Itchy rash. Coughing fits. A stiff brandy and a headache lozenge, and I’m good as new.”
From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood
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.
