▪ I. quinine, n.
(kwɪˈniːn, -ˈaɪn, U.S. ˈkwaɪnaɪn)
Also quinin.
[f. quin-a + -ine5.]
An important alkaloid (C20H24N2O2) found in the bark of various species of cinchona and remigia, used largely in medicine as a febrifuge, tonic, and antiperiodic, chiefly in the form of the salt, sulphate of quinine, which is popularly termed quinine.
‘Quinine was introduced into medical practice in 1820’ (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1897).
| 1826 S. Cooper First Lines Surg. (ed. 5) 36 A still better preparation, now much used, is the sulphate of quinine. 1834 [see cinchonine]. 1859 Wilson & Geikie Mem. E. Forbes iv. 127 A few grains of silky white crystals of quinine were found sufficient to dispel the fever. 1887 Athenæum 19 Feb. 260/1 Antifebrin is stated to be more effective than quinine in reducing fever. |
b. attrib. and Comb., as quinine-bark, quinine-compound, quinine-purifier, quinine-test; quinine-producing, quinine-yielding adjs.; quinine-flower U.S., a plant of the gentian family, used locally as a febrifuge; quinine-tree Austral., (a) the horse-radish tree; (b) the native quince.
| 1880 C. R. Markham Peruv. Bark 216 The richest of quinine yielding trees. Ibid. 249 The tree has peculiarities not possessed by any other quinine-producing species. 1884 Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 537 Examples are afforded..by the Quinine barks. 1898 P. Manson Trop. Diseases vi. 105 The quinine test is generally conclusive in intermittents. |
Hence quiˈninic a., pertaining to, derived from, quinine. quiˈninism = quinism (Mayne Expos. Lex. 1858). quiˈninize v. = quinize. quiniˈnometry = quinimetry.
▪ II. ˈquinine, v.
[f. the n.]
trans. To dose or treat with quinine.
| 1927 Bulletin (Glasgow) 18 Mar. 5/5 The ‘choleric colonel from India’..is apparently more sinned against than sinning. His medical man has ‘quinined’ him. |