▪ I. diˈspensatory, n.
[ad. Med. or mod.L. dispensātōrium, dispensātōrius (liber), absol. use of dispensātōrius adj.: see next and -ory.]
1. A book in which are described the composition, method of preparation, and use of medicinal substances; a pharmacopœia.
| 1566 Securis Detection Abuses Physick D vj, Y⊇ poticarie mought not be without the dispensatories of Valerius Cordus, of Fuchsius. 1696 tr. Du Mont's Voy. Levant A viij b, Wherto is added a Chirurgical Dispensatory; shewing the Manner how to prepare all such Medicines. 1799 Med. Jrnl. II. 91 A cerate, which nearly resembles the unguentum tripharmacum of the old Dispensatory. 1811 A. T. Thomson (title), The London Dispensatory, a Practical Synopsis of Materia Medica, Pharmacy, and Therapeutics. 1879 Stille & Marsch (title), The National Dispensatory. |
| attrib. 1716 M. Davies Athen. Brit. ii. 352 Of all our Dispensatory Medicines, there's not one better. |
b. fig.
| a 1626 Bp. Andrewes Serm. x. Holy Ghost (1661) 462 In all Christ's dispensatory, there is not a medicine for such a heart. 1667 Decay Chr. Piety vii. ¶1 [They] defame the Gospel as the dispensatory, and Christ as the physician, and likewise ruine themselves as the patients. 1697 Collier Immor. Stage i. (1698) 5 One of the Fathers calls Poetry, Vinum Dæmonum an intoxicating Draught, made up by the Devils Dispensatory. 1741 Warburton Div. Legat. II. 44. 1773 J. Berridge Chr. World Unmasked (1812) 27 To hear what my dispensatory says concerning will and prayer. |
† 2. A place where medicines are made up; = dispensary 1. Obs.
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal xxxv. xxv. §1. 35 Apothecaries shop or dispensatorie. a 1626 Bacon New Atl. (1650) 29 Dispensatories, or Shops of Medicines. 1644 Evelyn Diary 8 Nov., Father Kircher..leading us into their refectory, dispensatory, laboratory, gardens, etc. 1673 Lady's Call. i. §3 ¶14. 23 Not only opening their purses, but dispensatories too, providing medicines for such as..want that sort of relief. 1742 Richardson Pamela I. 352 [He] praised me that I don't carry my Charity to Extremes, and make his House a Dispensatory. 1799 tr. Diderot's Nat. Son II. 196 He had given me a key of the dispensatory, that I might myself take what I wanted. |
† 3. fig. A repertory or collection of medicines.
| 1654 Triana in Fuller's Cause & Cure (1867) 207 Sickness carrieth with it its own dispensatory for such incivilities. 1707 Curios. in Husb. & Gard. 108 If but one half of them were true, we should find in this single Tree an intire Dispensatory; and the Leaves, the Wood, and the Juice of Ash, would be sufficient to furnish an Apothecary's Shop. 1748 G. Jeffreys in Duncombe's Lett. (1773) II. 196 The whole moral dispensatory affords no remedy so universal and efficacious. |
4. gen. A place whence anything is dispensed or dealt out.
| 1653 Consid. Dissolv. Crt. Chancery 5 The Magazine, store-house, and dispensatory of all Writts remedial. 1752 A. Murphy Gray's Inn Jrnl. No. 17 This place is the grand Dispensatory of Life and Death. |
▪ II. diˈspensatory, a.
[ad. L. dispensātōr-ius (Jerome), f. dispensātor: see dispensator and -ory.]
† 1. Of or pertaining to a dispensator, administrator, or steward, or to administration; = dispensative 1. Obs.
The 17th c. theologians contrasted dispensatory or dispensative power, which is exercised by virtue of office, with essential or inherent power.
| 1635 Rainbow Serm. 8 (T.) The dispenser [is] the Son of Man: the author of the dispensatory power, God the Father. 1649 Roberts Clavis Bibl. iii. 54 Christs Kingdome may be considered in divers respects, viz. As it is Essentiall..As Oeconomical, Dispensatory or Mediatory. 1671 J. Flavel Fount. Life xiii. 38 The Divinity of Christ..which was obscured in this Temporary Dispensatory kingdom. a 1679 T. Goodwin Wks. I. i. 439 (R.) There is a dispensatory Kingdom (as Divines use to call it), as he [Christ] is considered as Mediator between God and his church: which Kingdom is not his natural due, but it was given him and given him by choice. |
2. That gives dispensations; having the power or habit of dispensing with laws or rules.
| 1647 Trapp Comm. Jas. ii. 10 A dispensatory conscience keeps not any Commandment. 1650 ― Comm. Gen. vii. 5, Exod. x. 26. 1675 Brooks Gold. Key Wks. 1867 V. 36. |