cocaine
(kəʊˈkeɪn)
[f. coca + -ine.]
An important alkaloid obtained from the leaves and young twigs of the coca plant, valuable as a local anæsthesiant, and also used as a stuimulant.
| 1874 Schorlemmer Manual Carbon Comp. 483 Cocaine (C17H21NO4) is the active principle of the coca-leaves. 1886 Brit. & Col. Druggist 31 July, The valuable alkaloid cocaine, whose properties as a local anæsthetic have created almost a revolution in ophthalmic and other branches of surgery. |
| attrib. 1887 Braithwaite Retrosp. of Med. XCV. 11 Cocaine Cotton for toothache. Ibid. XCIX. 371 Cocaine anæsthesia. |
Hence,
coˈcainize v. to treat or affect with cocaine, to render insensible by means of cocaine;
cocainiˈzation, treatment with cocaine;
coˈcainism, the chronic condition produced by excessive use of cocaine as a stimulant (
cf. alcoholism).
| 1887 T. L. Brunton Pharmacol. Therap. (ed. 3) 226 Stimulation of [the nerve] produces contraction in the cocainised pupil. 1887 Med. News (Phila.) 30 Apr. 501/2 There is, however, a certain proportion of cases in which cocainization cannot be produced. 1964 S. Duke-Elder Parsons' Dis. Eye (ed. 14) xv. 181 They are common in elderly people and should be removed with a sharp needle after cocainization. |