elixir

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And his elixir is as dangerous to the body politic as would be his listeners with pitchforks instead of their usual 6 pack, bag of potato chips and a barcolounger.

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Definitions (19)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. noun A sweetened aromatic solution of alcohol and water, serving as a vehicle for medicine.
  2. noun See philosophers' stone.
  3. noun A substance believed to maintain life indefinitely. Also called elixir of life.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (10)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • And his elixir is as dangerous to the body politic as would be his listeners with pitchforks instead of their usual 6 pack, bag of potato chips and a barcolounger. —  The American Spectator
  • This elixir is a creamy serum that is light brown almost off white in color.
  • He will take three grains of wit like the elixir, and, projecting it upon the iron age, turn it immediately into gold. —  English Satires
  • By the word elixir is meant length of days and happiness. —  Food for the Lambs; or, Helps for Young Christians
  • At the best of times, so much of this elixir was administered to me as a choice restorative, that I was conscious of going about, smelling like a new fence. —  Great Expectations
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

potion ·  salve ·  balm ·  liqueur ·  nectar ·  concoction ·  unguent ·  laudanum ·  panacea ·  tonic ·  cognac ·  alchemy
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, a substance of transmutative properties, from Old French elissir, from Medieval Latin elixir, from Arabic al-'iksīr : al, the + 'iksīr, elixir (probably from Greek xērion, desiccative powder, from xēros, dry).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Formerly also elixar; from Middle English elixir = Dutch elixer = Swedish Danish G. elixir, from Old French elixir, French élixir = Portuguese elexir = Italian elisire, from Spanish elixir, elixir, from Arabic el iksīr, the philosopher's stone: el, al, the; iksīr, philosopher's stone, by some derived from Kasara, break, break the edge, destroy, but prob. (like some other Arabic terms of alchemy: see alchemy, alembic, limbeck) of Greek origin: from Greek ξηρός, also ξερός, dry, perhaps akin to χερσός, χερρός, dry: see Chersus, chersonese.
  2. from elixir, n.
 

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/əˈlɪksər/
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