talk like an apothecary

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

talk like an apothecary (third-person singular simple present talks like an apothecary, present participle talking like an apothecary, simple past and past participle talked like an apothecary)

1. (intransitive, idiomatic, archaic slang) To prattle.
   • 1824, Naso., Sneezing, in The New Monthly Magazine, volume X, page 152:

     As to Clement of Alexandria, I shall pass him by, as he knew nothing about the matter. He talks like an apothecary on the subject; and when did ever an apothecary talk to any purpose?

   • July, 1807, Omar and Fatima; or, the Apothecary of Ispahan, published in the Literary Magazine and American Register, volume VIII, number 46, page 6:

     "And you have so little of the former left," said the old woman, as she presented him with a plate of the aliment and a glass of the menstruum, "that without we have a fresh supply, I foresee that you will be reduced to live upon your own medicines."

     "You do not talk like an apothecary," said Nadir, "if you expect that I could exist upon them in the way you suggest."

Related terms

• apothecary's Latin

References

• [Francis] Grose [et al.] (1811) “Apothecary”, in Lexicon Balatronicum. A Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit, and Pickpocket Eloquence. […], London: […] C. Chappell, […], →OCLC.