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Glite Dictionary
apomorphine

apomorphine

1 9.9
A medicine made from morphine that causes vomiting and in small doses calms people, weaker than morphine
  • noun
  • /ˌæpəˈmɔrfɪn/
  • Specialized
: apomorfina
  • The doctor administered apomorphine to induce vomiting after she accidentally ingested poison.

Examples

  • The legend is that he went to London and kicked it... with the apomorphine cure in 1956.

    William S. Burroughs: A Man Within (2010)

  • I gave her a shot of apomorphine, lifted her off the bed, and shouldered her toward the bathroom.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Sulpiride has been called a "silent neuroleptic" because of its weak ability to antagonize apomorphine-induced stereotyped behavior (Worms & Lloyd, 1979).

    Academic text (1992)

  • For his treatment, the patient received a dose of apomorphine to alleviate nausea.

  • In the veterinary clinic, apomorphine was used to treat the dog that had ingested harmful food.

Surface Forms

apomorphine singular
apomorphines plural

Morphology

apomorphine = morphine (semi-transparent) = apo + morphine

The relation to 'morphine' is clear (a derivative drug), but the prefix 'apo-' is a specialized combining form unfamiliar to average learners and the exact changes in pharmacological properties are not predictable.

Etymology

Apomorphine comes from the prefix apo- meaning 'away from' and the familiar drug name morphine, so it is a form 'made from' or changed from morphine; that helps explain why it is a medicine like morphine but less strong and used in special medical cases.