▪ I. opiate, a. and n.
(ˈəʊpɪət)
Also 7–8 opiat.
[ad. med.L. opiāt-us, -um, pa. pple. of *opiāre: see next.]
A. adj. a. Made with or containing opium; hence, inducing sleep; narcotic, soporiferous.
| 1543 Traheron Vigo's Chirurg. viii. xviii. 215 Opiate medicines swage payne, howbeit it is onely after the maner of palliation. 1579–80 North Plutarch (1676) 800 They gave Dionysius the elder..a strong Opiat-drink to cast him in a sleep. 1626 Bacon Sylva §903 And for the particular ingredients..it is like they are opiate, and soporiferous. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 133 Charm'd with Arcadian Pipe, the Pastoral Reed Of Hermes, or his opiate Rod. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 267 Such things as are endued with an opiate Quality. 1887 Bowen Virg. æneid vi. 420 Morsels..of meal, and of honeyed opiate cakes. |
b. fig. Inducing drowsiness or inaction.
| a 1626 Bp. Andrewes Serm. (1856) I. 321 Have a little opiate divinity ministered to our souls. 1754 H. Walpole Lett. (1846) III. 56 Even in France the squabbles of the parliament and clergy are under the same opiate influence. a 1845 Hood To Sylv. Urban vi, Confessions dozing from an opiate pen. |
B. n.
1. a. Any medicine containing opium and having the quality of inducing sleep; a narcotic.
| 1603 B. Jonson Sejanus i. ii, More comforting Than all your opiates, juleps, apozems. 1674 R. Godfrey Inj. & Ab. Physic 195 Instances..of such who with Opiates slept to Death. 1742 Young Nt. Th. viii. 67 A pillow, which, like opiates ill-prepar'd, Intoxicates, but not composes. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xvii, Compelled to sleep in spite of racking bodily pains, by the administration of a strong opiate. 1887 Fenn Master Cerem. ii, The old woman took her opiate every night. 1948 Arch. Internal Med. LXXXII. 387 These men were..again offered the choice of either an opiate or methadon. |
b. fig. Anything that causes drowsiness or inaction, or that dulls or quiets the feelings. See also opium n. 1 b.
| 1641 Milton Animadv. ii. Wks. (1851) 209 If men should ever bee thumming the drone of one plaine Song, it would bee a dull Opiat to the most wakefull attention. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 171 ¶3, [He] began to lull my conscience with the opiates of irreligion. 1866 Geo. Eliot F. Holt i, Mrs. Transome..found the opiate for her discontent in the exertion of her will about smaller things. 1927 C. Connolly Let. 4 Mar. in Romantic Friendship (1975) 276, I find covering ground rather an opiate. 1942 R.A.F. Jrnl. 30 May 24 There's no more beautiful feeling than the opiate of unguarded sleep on a sunny boat deck. 1960 D. Eisenhower in W. Safire New Lang. Politics (1968) 309/1 Hundreds of millions behind the Iron Curtain are daily drilled in the slogan: ‘There is no God, and religion is an opiate’. But not all the people within the Soviet accept this fallacy; and some day they will educate their rulers, or change them. 1968 tr. M. de Unamuno in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (ed. 14) 870/1 One of those leaders of what they call the social revolution has said that religion is the opiate of the people. 1975 Gen. Systems XX. 109/1 The European revolutionary found religion an opiate to be abolished. 1976 C. Dexter Last seen Wearing xxi. 158 The heady, heavy opiate of the gambling game. |
2. Any drug having similar addictive effects to those of the opium alkaloids morphine and cocaine. Freq. attrib.
| 1954 Ann. Rev. Med. V. 318 Another interesting field of usefulness for nalorphine is in the detection of opiate addiction. Administration of 5 mg. nalorphine to individuals addicted to morphine or methadon induces abstinence symptoms within 15 min. 1960 Federal Register (U.S.) 5 Aug. 7351/2 The word ‘opiate’..shall mean any drug..found by the Secretary or his delegate..to have an addiction-forming or addiction-sustaining liability similar to morphine or cocaine. 1961 Jrnl. Pharmacol. & Exper. Therap. CXXXIII. 371/1 Codeine accounts for at least 80% of the natural opiates sold on prescription. 1970 Nature 14 Apr. 323/1 Methadone itself is an addictive opiate. 1974 M. C. Gerald Pharmacol. xiii. 242 In 1973 evidence was presented demonstrating the existence of an opiate receptor in the brain. Ibid. 251 Although acute opiate withdrawal is thought to be a very dangerous and often fatal process, there is no evidence to support this belief. |
▪ II. opiate, v.
(ˈəʊpɪeɪt)
[app. f. a med.L. *opiāre to form or treat with opium, It. oppiare (Florio).]
1. trans. To stupefy or put to sleep by means of opium; to narcotize.
| 1611 Florio, Oppiare, to oppiate, to stupefie the senses. 1659 Torriano, Alloppiare, to opiate, to bring asleep, by art, by drugs..as with Opium. 1668 in 7th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. 486/2 He opiated the mother and daughter and then ravished the daughter. 1717 Fenton Ep. to Lambard Poems 209 Tho' no lethargick fumes the brain invest, And opiate all her active pow'rs to rest. |
b. fig. To dull the sense or sensibility of.
| 1762 Goldsm. Cit. W. c. [ciii.] II. 153 We..in that pleasing expectation opiate every calamity. 1764 ― Hist. Eng. in Lett. (1772) I. 190 Happy in his natural imbecility, which seemed to opiate all his afflictions. 1800 Southey in C. Southey Life II. 72 One who can let his feelings remain awake, and opiate his reason. |
2. To mix or impregnate with opium. Chiefly in opiated ppl. a.
| 1611 Florio, Alloppiáto v{iacu}no, wine opiated. 1683 Kennett tr. Erasm. on Folly Pref. Verses, The opiated milk glews up the brain. 1857 D. Macmillan Mem. viii. (1882) 299 The ulcer was..treated with opiated caustic. |