bitter salts
- noun
- Specialized
:
sal amarga
- The doctor recommended bitter salts for my constipation.
Examples
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In the hospital, bitter salts may be injected to help prevent dangerous seizures.
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I bought some bitter salts to help with my heartburn.
-
After taking bitter salts, he felt his symptoms of heartburn ease considerably.
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The doctor recommended bitter salts to relieve her occasional constipation.
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After taking bitter salts, he felt his symptoms of heartburn ease considerably.
-
In the hospital, bitter salts may be injected to help prevent dangerous seizures.
-
The doctor recommended bitter salts to relieve her occasional constipation.
Synonyms
1
3.6
A white salt you put in warm water to soothe sore muscles, relieve constipation, or feed plants
1
3.7
A white salt put in baths to soothe sore muscles and ease constipation
1
4.7
A white salt used in medicine, baths, and as a fertilizer
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is a straightforward adjective+noun composition so a learner who knows 'bitter' and 'salt' can infer it refers to salts that taste bitter. However, the specific identification as hydrated magnesium sulfate with particular medical uses is specialized and not predictable from the constituents alone, so full meaning requires extra knowledge.
Etymology
Bitter salts gets its name from old Epsom salt, a white crystal people used as a home medicine; the crystals tasted bitter and like salts, so they were called 'bitter salts'. That's why the name now refers to the medicinal salt used 'to relieve constipation' and sometimes in hospitals 'to prevent seizures'.