medicinal, a. and n.
(mɪˈdɪsɪnəl)
[a. L. medicīnāl-is of or pertaining to medicine: see medicine and -al1. Cf. F. médicinal.]
A. adj.
1. Having healing or curative properties or attributes; adapted to medical uses. Const. against, for.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter l. 8 Ysope is a medicynall erbe. 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 245 Medycinal Purgacions sholde bene y-makyd in this tyme. 1525 in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. viii. 214 It may be by the College considered whether the bill were medecynall, or hurtfull, to the siknes. c 1540 tr. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (Camden) I. 295 His..ringe was..medicinalle againste..the fallinge sickenes. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 116 Most of the waters are medicinall. 1671 Milton Samson 627 Dire inflammation which no cooling herb Or medcinal liquor can asswage. 1717 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to P'cess of Wales 1 Apr., Here are hot baths, very famous for their medicinal virtues. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 429 The medical and medicinal treatment of aortic aneurysm. |
b. fig.
| c 1400 Wyclif's Bible Tit. ii. 8 (MS. M) Word medicynal [1382 an hool word, 1388 an hoolsum word, Vulg. sanum]. 1502 Arnolde Chron. 174 As in the councel of Oxenford it is..decreed that the sentence of excommunication whiche is sayd medecinall iiij tymes in the yere to be pronounced. 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iii. 213 All this misery of mankinde..is a medicional sorrow, and not a penall sentence. 1672 Cave Prim. Chr. iii. v. (1673) 374 The medicinal vertue of Repentance, lying not in the duration, but the manner of it. 1794 Coleridge To a Friend 11 Soothing each pang with fond solicitude, And tenderest tones medicinal of love. 1870 Emerson Soc. & Solit., Bks. Wks. (Bohn) III. 81 Plutarch cannot be spared from the smallest library..because he is so..medicinal and invigorating. 1903 Hibbert Jrnl. Mar. 583 The preaching of Christianity as medicinal for soul and body brought success. |
† 2. Of or relating to the science or the practice of medicine. Obs.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 363 He made problems medicinal of phisik. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 7 (Add. MS.) Surgerie..is a medycineal sciense. c 1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 66 Y wyl delyure to þe techinge Medicynal. 1563 T. Gale Antidot. Pref. 1 Suche medicinal instruments, as..are mentioned in the same bookes. a 1641 Bp. R. Montagu Acts & Mon. (1642) 171 Certain medicinall books and writings of Trismegistus. 1685 Dryden Thren. August. v. 170 They min'd it near, they batter'd from afar With all the Cannon of the Med'cinal War. 1755 J. Shebbeare Lydia (1769) I. 178 As nonsense and medicinal knowledge are equally intelligible to most people [etc.]. 1804 Miniature No. 20 (1806) I. 267 The medicinal art. |
b. Resembling medicine.
| 1824 A. Henderson Wines 344 [It] is apt to infect the liquor with a medicinal taste. |
† 3. medicinal-finger = leech-finger. medicinal day, medicinal hour, medicinal month, times when the administration of medicine was deemed proper. Obs.
| 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 12 b/1 The Medicinalle finger, or Ringe finger, betweene the little finger and the middle finger. 1623 tr. Favine's Theat. Hon. i. v. 48 The medicinall finger of the left hand. 1674 S. Jeake Arith. (1696) 229 The time when most proper to administer Physick, called the Medicinal Moneth. 1722 Quincy Lex. Phys.-Med. (ed. 2) s.v. Medicine, Medicinal Days, such are so called by some Writers, wherein no Crisis or Change is expected, so as to forbid the use of Medicines..: but it is most properly used for those Days, wherein Purging or any other Evacuation is most conveniently comply'd with. Ibid., Medicinal Hours are commonly reckoned in the Morning fasting, about an Hour before Dinner [etc.]. 1747 tr. Astruc's Fevers 120 The antients divided the days of an acute fever into critical, indicatory, intercalary, and medicinal. |
B. n. a. A medicinal substance. † b. pl. Matters pertaining to medical science (obs.).
| 1382 Wyclif Rev. iii. 18 Anoynte thin iȝen with colirie, [gloss] that is, medicynal for yȝen, maad of diuerse erbis. a 1657 R. Loveday Lett. (1663) 191 'Tis possible Mr. R's directions, as one well skill'd in such medicinals, may prove available. 1667 H. Oldenburg in Phil. Trans. II. 410 In Medicinals we have now and then..inquired after some rarities. 1716 M. Davies Athen. Brit. III. Diss. Physick 12 The knowledge of all the Medicinals, that they could come any way to be acquainted with. Ibid. 36 Searching into the Oriental..Medicinals. 1813 Examiner 15 Feb. 99/2 Brandy, medicinals, &c. 1862 Lytton Str. Story II. 5 The remarkable cures he had effected by the medicinals stored in the stolen casket. |