Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Inducing the expulsion of gas from the stomach and intestines.
- n. A drug or agent that induces the expulsion of gas from the stomach or intestines.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Expelling, or having the quality of expelling, wind from the alimentary canal.
- n. A medicine which tends to expel wind, and to remedy colic and flatulence. Carminatives are chiefly obtained from the vegetable kingdom, the principal being ginger, cardamoms, aniseed, and caraway-seeds. Several of the essential oils are also used as carminatives, as those of peppermint, anise, caraway, and juniper; also ardent spirits, especially in the form of aromatic tinctures.
Wiktionary
- adj. Relieving discomfort of gas in the digestive tract.
- n. medicine A drug or substance that induces the removal of gas from the digestive tract.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Expelling wind from the body; warming; antispasmodic.
- n. A substance, esp. an aromatic, which tends to expel wind from the alimentary canal, or to relieve colic, griping, or flatulence.
WordNet 3.0
- n. medication that prevents the formation of gas in the alimentary tract or eases its passing
- adj. relieving gas in the alimentary tract (colic or flatulence or griping)
Etymologies
- Middle English carminatif, from Old French, from Latin carminātus, past participle of carmināre, to card wool, from *carmen, card for wool, from cārere, to card. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“In this connection it is interesting to note that, according to one authority, the word carminative, a remedy which relieves pain "like a charm," is derived from the Latin _carminare_, to use incantations.”
“Everything was in the word carminative -- a detailed, exact foreground, an immense, indefinite hinterland of suggestion.”
“From boyhood the romantic, poetically inclined hero, Denis Stone, found the word carminative particularly evocative.”
“Ginger can be classified as a carminative in addition to an antiflammatory and diaphoretic herb.”
“It's a great idea to add lots to your food as black pepper is what is known as a carminative, a substance that helps prevent intestinal gas from forming (and, in turn, flatulence), and anything that can help in that department has to be a bonus.”
“The medical term "carminative," a comforting medicine, really means a charm medicine, and has the same derivation.”
“I had a whole poem ruined, just because the word 'carminative' didn't mean what it ought to have meant.”
“Later, when I discovered alcohol, 'carminative' described for me that similar, but nobler, more spiritual glow which wine evokes not only in the body but in the soul as well.”
“Recently, for example, I had a whole poem ruined, just because the word 'carminative' didn't mean what it ought to have meant.”
“carminative' described for me that similar, but nobler, more spiritual glow which wine evokes not only in the body but in the soul as well.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘carminative’.
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Another 250 Spelling Words
Another range of words from the intermediate to the advanced speller's level.
cherimoya, parthenogenesis, sommelier, bupkis, kichel, voulge, indivisibility, retiarius, sewellel, vihuela, ossature, jalfrezi and 238 more...
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phrontistery - c
from phrontistery.info
czardas, cytometer, cytology, cytheromania, cystoscope, cystolith, cyrenaic, cypseline, cyprinoid, cyphonism, cynophobia, cytogenesis and 1298 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Old Pharmacy, etc.
This is not an Aubrey/Maturin list.
This is not an Aubrey/Maturin list.
This is not an Aubrey/Maturin list.
There. I think I've convinced myself.
(Of course...asafetida, Cinchona, Peruvian bark, Jesuit's bark, mithridate, aqua, bark, lard, electuary, gentian, diatessaron, myrrh and 110 more...
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Afflictions of the Realm
archaic diseases
dropsy, quinsy, tisick, measles, croup, gout, canker, teething, overlaying, mold-shot head, thrush, whooping-cough and 56 more...
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Hateful Communication
sock puppet, bescumber, ordure, meconium, steatopygous, ninnyhammer, buncombe, hircismus, axillism, fussock, fice, carminative and 2 more...
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Pesky
Pesky pronunciations
perspicacious, carminative, eleemosynary, katzenjammer, cognomen, xanthin, weltanschauung, wahrheitssensible..., entropic doom, dietrologia, lontanaza, überrNoch and 22 more...
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The Troublesome Offspring Of Cardinal...
Words and names discovered or re-discovered while reading and re-reading this awesome book.
LOUIS DE BERNIÈRES, the Navantes, the Cusicuari, the Kogi, the Acahuatecs, Mount Aconcagua, Hoy, miedo, escandalice, puede, hablar, ingenio and 328 more...
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derogatory terms I should use more often
assmarmot, scuzzbucket, scumbag, sleazebag, slimeball, swamp donkey, barathrum, cacafuego, clarty-paps, comprachico, ephemeromorph, creodont and 162 more...
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ktrey's wordlist
Words that I like.
Many may be lexicographically impotent due to a lack of citations and definition. Hopefully I'll be able to rectify this eventually.velleity, dispositive, bloviate, bibulous, fungible, concupiscence, avuncular, carnaptious, thrawn, hypocoristic, diegesis, lagniappe and 928 more...
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Infinite Jest
Words taken from Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace.
prorector, monograph, post-fourier, snuffle, rototremble, creatus, enfilade, subanimalistic, balletic, espadrilles, leonine, cirri and 1153 more...
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Infinite Jest
Words to remember from DFW's "Infinite Jest"
wen, matriculation, circumflex, lapidary, effete, sotto, hypertrophy, presbyopic, ideogram, pinion, parquet, nelson and 152 more...
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bertilak's Words
antidisestablishm..., feldercarb, wainscoting, eleemosynary, oxymoron, fuliginous, libration, lammergeier, saxifrage, ichor, lambent, smaragdine and 414 more...
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Collage's Words
subtle, calamity, impale, qat, painterly, piebald, surly, nihilistic, repine, slake, larder, sepulchre and 349 more...
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hagendas 2008
mise-en-scene, occultation, lodestone, obdurate, remontoire, filigree, insensate, carapace, vicissitude, verdigris, indivuation, intercalate and 224 more...
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Words to use at the Joynt
obstreperous, calibogus, ouzo, pitcher-man, arfarfanarf, drunkensides, pyrogenesis, amphiboly, gobemouche, cacoethes, slubberdegullion, diplopic and 107 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for carminative.

jmjarmstrong JM enjoys a good old fashioned, immature carminative joke May 26, 2010