Seidlitz powder
- noun
- Archaic
:
polvo de Seidlitz
- The patient was advised to take a dose of Seidlitz powder to relieve his constipation.
Examples
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She remembered her grandmother always keeping Seidlitz powder in the medicine cabinet for upset stomachs.
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In the 19th century, Seidlitz powder was a popular household remedy for digestive discomfort.
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I took Seidlitz powder to relieve my constipation.
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Have you ever tried Seidlitz powder for digestive issues?
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In the 19th century, Seidlitz powder was a popular household remedy for digestive discomfort.
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She remembered her grandmother always keeping Seidlitz powder in the medicine cabinet for upset stomachs.
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The patient was advised to take a dose of Seidlitz powder to relieve his constipation.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A white, tasteless powder containing mercury used in the past as medicine
A powder that fizzes in water and makes you need to go to the toilet
A powder used to help you go to the toilet when you are constipated
A white powder used to stop heartburn and relieve constipation
A white salt doctors use to make you go to the toilet and factories use to make chemicals
Surface Forms
Morphology
Seidlitz + powder
The first element 'Seidlitz' is an eponym/proper name with no transparent lexical meaning for learners, and 'powder' only indicates physical form; the specific medicinal composition and laxative use are specialized historical knowledge not inferable from the parts. Because the overall sense (a particular pharmaceutical compound) is lexicalized and requires background knowledge about the name or the product, a B1 learner who only knows the constituents would not be able to derive the meaning.
Etymology
Seidlitz powder refers to a small packet of fizzy powder that you mix with water to make a bubbling drink. The fizzy drink often helped people go to the toilet, so Seidlitz powder came to mean 'a mild laxative'.