tranquillizer
(ˈtræŋkwɪlaɪzə(r))
Also (now U.S.) -ilizer.
[f. prec. + -er1.]
a. One who or that which tranquillizes; spec. any of a large class of drugs in widespread use since the 1950s for the reduction of tension or anxiety and the treatment of psychotic states; also fig.
| 1800 F. Burney Jrnl. 7 Mar. (1973) IV. 402, I find, however, useful employment the best tranquiliser, &..I have less of the violent emotions which have hitherto torn me. 1822–56 De Quincey Confess. (1862) 241 A tranquilliser of nervous and anomalous sensations. 1824 E. Sutleffe Med. & Surg. Cases I. 2, I invited the attention of the medical world by introducing this herbaceous tranquillizer [sc. ground ivy] to their notice. 1891 T. Hardy Tess l, Nightfall..came as a tranquillizer on this March day. 1956 A. Huxley Let. 21 Jan. (1969) 787 Our impressions of the cutting short of the mescalin experience by this new tranquillizer. 1956, 1957 [see ataractic a. b]. 1958 G. Greene Our Man in Havana iv. ii. 176 He found himself taking to truth like a tranquilliser. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia XVIII. 595/1 The antipsychotic tranquillizers act solely on the brain itself, whereas anti⁓anxiety agents act on the spinal cord as well. 1975 N.Y. Times 28 Nov. 37/2 Proposed reforms are only tranquilizers offered in place of the fiscal surgery needed. |
b. attrib.
| 1958 Times 1 Aug. 7/7 Tranquillizer drugs have cured many animals of the zoo of ‘emotional strain and anti⁓social behaviour’. 1961 Daily Tel. 13 Sept. 19/4 Inside the needle is a tranquilliser solution which, when aimed accurately into an unruly dog.., makes the animal docile. 1979 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 16 Apr. 9/3 Humane society inspectors arrived and captured the animal with the help of a tranquillizer gun. |