catholicon
- noun
- /ˌkæθəˈlɪkən/
- Archaic
:
catholicon
- The alchemist sought the elusive catholicon that would cure all ailments and grant eternal youth.
Examples
-
I regard this earth as an infirmary, and I am but one earnest doctor in search of the Great Catholicon.
Fiction book (1991) -
Yet just as the white and the yolk conspire to bring forth a ringdove or a finch, so must time, nature, and alchymic art conspire to fertilize the Grand Catholicon.
Fiction book (1991) -
SATURN ascendant, conflict among elements, growth of precious catholicon.
Fiction book (1991) -
One catholicon must be recombined with nebulosity after purgation, the fulfillment achieved by Pontic Water, which is more luminous than amethyst or diamond.
Fiction book (1991) -
Many scholars once believed that a catholicon could be discovered through the combination of rare herbs and mystical elements.
-
The legend spoke of a catholicon hidden deep within the mountains, promising to heal any disease known to man.
Synonyms
17
9.6
A supposed cure for all problems
7
7.5
A medicine that people say cures every illness but often does not work
A medicine people think can cure every disease
A mythical substance used by alchemists that can change or heal anything
A thing thought to have magical or healing powers in old alchemy
A liquid people long ago believed could dissolve anything
People in old stories say it changes ordinary metals into gold or gives eternal life
Antonyms
How Universal
Surface Forms
Etymology
Catholicon comes from an old Greek word katholikos meaning 'universal' or 'general', the same root as the English word catholic. So a catholicon was imagined as a single medicine to cure 'all' diseases, which is why the name means a universal remedy.