opodeldoc

English

Etymology

So called by Paracelsus. The first syllable may be from Ancient Greek ὀπός (opós, “vegetable juice”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɒpəˈdɛldɒk/

Noun

opodeldoc (countable and uncountable, plural opodeldocs)

1. (obsolete) A kind of plaster, said to have been invented by Mindererus, used for external injuries.
2. (obsolete) A saponaceous, camphorated liniment; a solution of soap in alcohol, with the addition of camphor and essential oils.

Quotations

• 1857, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's School Days, part I, chapter 6:

  […] and the leader passed on, leaving East better for those few words than all the opodeldoc in England would have made him […]

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “opodeldoc”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)