tincture of opium
- noun
- /ˈtɪŋk.tʃər əv ˈoʊ.pi.əm/
- NSFW
:
tintura de opio
- To treat her diarrhea, the herbalist recommended taking a tincture of opium mixed with water.
Examples
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After the accident, the patient was given a tincture of opium to help manage his discomfort.
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I gave you some tincture of opium.
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With that tincture of opium?
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You have tincture of opium?
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The Pure Food and Drug Act (1906) was aimed at reducing the abuse of patent medicines, which at the time often contained combinations of tincture of opium and cocaine dissolved in alcohol.
Academic text (2009) -
The doctor prescribed a small dose of tincture of opium to relieve her severe pain.
Synonyms
7
9.9
A strong liquid made from opium and alcohol that reduces pain and makes people sleepy
3
8.1
A medicine made by dissolving a plant or drug in alcohol
A liquid medicine made from opium and camphor that treats diarrhea and eases pain
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a medicinal solution of opium dissolved in alcohol' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'tincture' (an alcoholic preparation) with 'opium' via the preposition 'of'. This is a literal, compositional noun phrase that follows common cross‑linguistic patterns for 'tincture of X', so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would understand it.
Etymology
Tincture of opium comes from old medicine when people mixed opium from poppies into alcohol to make a tincture, a liquid medicine. A few drops of this strong liquid were given to calm pain or diarrhea, so the phrase means 'a medicinal solution' used to relieve pain.