▪ I. † ˈmedicate, a. Obs.
[ad. L. medicāt-us, pa. pple. of medicāre (see next).]
= medicated.
| 1638 T. Whitaker Blood of Grape 41 Not but that I take notice of medicate Wines, and their excellencies. |
▪ II. medicate, v.
(ˈmɛdɪkeɪt)
[f. L. medicāt-, ppl. stem of medicāre, -ārī, f. medicus: see medic.]
1. trans. To treat medically; to administer remedies to; to heal, cure.
| 1623 Cockeram, Medicate, to heale or cure. 1691 Baxter Nat. Ch. x. 48 All the Physicions Medicate all England. 1757 Dyer Fleece i. 374 To soil Thy grateful fields, to medicate thy sheep,..Thy vacant hours require. 18.. Shelley Ess. & Lett. (1852) I. 256 He postponed all other purposes to the care of medicating himself. 1833 Chalmers Const. Man (1835) I. 237 Which mars instead of medicates. 1880 Barwell Aneurism 94 To feed, and if desirable also to medicate, the patient in such manner that [etc.]. |
| fig. 1807 tr. Three Germans I. 68 What can medicate the wounds of the mind? 1860 Emerson Cond. Life iv. (1861) 83 What we call our root-and-branch reforms of slavery, war [etc.] is only medicating the symptoms. |
† b. To treat (a thing) with drugs or other substances for any purpose. Obs.
| 1644 Evelyn Diary Apr., His collection of all sorts of insects..is most curious; these he spreads and so medicates that no corruption invading them, he keepes them in drawers. 1775 G. White Selborne 1 Nov. (1789) 198 A pound of rushes, medicated [i.e. steeped in tallow] and ready for use, will cost three shillings. |
| fig. 1839 De Quincey Philos. Rom. Hist. Wks. 1890 VI. 431 Did ever Siren warble so dulcet a song to ears already prepossessed and medicated with spells of Circean effeminacy? |
2. To impregnate with a medicinal substance.
| 1707 [see medicating vbl. n.]. 1753 Scots Mag. XV. 40/2 When a course of milk is ordered..may it not be thus medicated much to the advantage of the patient? 1898 Allbutt's Syst. Med. V. 37 The inhalation of steam medicated with terebene. |
| fig. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 150 ¶3 The antidotes with which philosophy has medicated the cup of life. 1809 Syd. Smith Wks. (1859) I. 185/2 You are multiplying..the chances of human improvement, by preparing and medicating those early impressions, which always come from the mother. |
† b. In wider sense [after L. medicāre]: To impregnate or mix with drugs or deleterious substances; to ‘doctor’ (liquors, etc.). Obs.
| 1662 J. Graunt Bills Mortality 68 The Fumes, Steams, and Stenches of London, do so medicate and impregnate the Air about it, that [etc.]. 1684 Baxter Twelve Argts. Pref. F j b, They medicate their Wines with Arsenick and Mercury. 1744 Berkeley Siris §11 Wines in the time of the old Romans were medicated with pitch and resin. 1791 Cowper Odyss. x. 291 She..medicated with her pois'nous drugs Their food. |
3. intr. To practise the art of healing. rare.
| 1835 Tait's Mag. II. 17 Skilled in herbs too, he medicates successfully for man and beast. |