Nembutal
(ˈnɛmbjuːtæl)
Also nembutal.
[f. Na, chemical symbol for sodium (f. natrium) + initial letters of the elements of 5-ethyl-5-(1-methylbutyl) barbiturate, chemical name of the compound + -al (as in Veronal, barbital).]
A proprietary name of pentobarbitone sodium, a short-acting barbiturate used as a hypnotic and an anticonvulsant. Also, a capsule of Nembutal.
| [1930 Anaesthesia & Analgesia IX. 215/2 Sodium ethyl 1-methyl butyl barbiturate (sodium embutal).] 1930 Druggists Circular Dec. 73/2 Nembutal, ‘844’, a new pre-anesthetic sedative and hypnotic,..described as being effective in allaying the apprehension and fear of patients about to undergo an operation. 1931 Lancet 10 Jan. 74/1 (heading) Nembutal as a basal hypnotic in general anæsthesia. 1931 Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Off.) 21 Apr. 560/1 Nembutal. For hypnotic sedative anesthetic compound. 1936 Discovery July 206/2 Another modern method of lessening nervous apprehension is to give the patient a sleeping draught the night before, and then in the morning, sometime before the operation, he is given a capsule of Nembutal or Pronocton. 1937 Trade Marks Jrnl. 15 Dec. 1474/1 Nembutal... Medicated preparations for use as hypnotics and sedatives. Abbott Laboratories Limited.., Montreal. 1953 W. Burroughs Junkie (1972) xiii. 128, I drank it all with two nembutals and slept several hours. Ibid. 158 Nembutal is a barbiturate used by junkies ‘to take the edge off’ when they can't get junk. 1959 N. Marsh Singing in Shrouds ix. 183 I've given her a nembutal. She's asleep in bed. 1962 A. Pirie Lens Metabolism Rel. Cataract 429 Rabbit lenses were obtained from the laboratory stock of Dutch rabbits killed by overdose of Nembutal. 1971 J. Wright Coll. Poems 274 This was the dream that woke me From nembutal sleep into the pains of grief. |