Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A nonaddictive opium derivative, C20H21NO4, used medicinally to relieve spasms of smooth muscle.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An alkaloid (C21 H21NO4) contained in opium.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Chem.) An alkaloid found in opium. It has a weaker therapeutic action than morphine.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A non-addictive derivative of opium used in medicine to relieve muscle spasms, as a vasodilator and in some forms of erectile dysfunction.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an alkaloid medicine (trade name Kavrin) obtained from opium; used to relax smooth muscles; it is nonaddictive

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin papāver, poppy + –ine.]

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Examples

  • Some men were also given injections of a drug called papaverine, a muscle stimulant that can boost erections.

    Earl Mindell’s New Herb Bible Earl Mindell 2008

  • Some men were also given injections of a drug called papaverine, a muscle stimulant that can boost erections.

    Earl Mindell’s New Herb Bible Earl Mindell 2008

  • Some men were also given injections of a drug called papaverine, a muscle stimulant that can boost erections.

    Earl Mindell’s New Herb Bible Earl Mindell 2008

  • Some men were also given injections of a drug called papaverine, a muscle stimulant that can boost erections.

    Earl Mindell’s New Herb Bible Earl Mindell 2008

  • Diseases such as papaverine, and the tongue: so does this formulation harder erections.

    We Blog A Lot 2009

  • Street heroin contains papaverine, a remnant of the opium poppy that can be detected in the urine.

    Study: Prescribing Heroin to Addicts Helps Keep Them Off Street Drugs | Impact Lab 2010

  • Over the next few minutes, Snyder gave the president amyl nitrite to sniff and injections of papaverine hydrochloride, morphine tartrate, heparin, and, later, a second shot of morphine.

    Eisenhower 1956 David A. Nichols 2011

  • Over the next few minutes, Snyder gave the president amyl nitrite to sniff and injections of papaverine hydrochloride, morphine tartrate, heparin, and, later, a second shot of morphine.

    Eisenhower 1956 David A. Nichols 2011

  • If impotence is caused by a constriction of blood vessels or by nerve damage to these vessels, injecting papaverine directly into the penis before having sex can stimulate an erection.

    Getting Pregnant Niels H. Lauersen 2000

  • He contributed greatly towards the definition of the arrangement of atoms within molecules of morphine, papaverine, narcotine, etc.

    Sir Robert Robinson - Biography 1964

Comments

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  • Hmm. Why does it sound so pretty?

    August 4, 2008

  • Comes from papaver, Latin for "poppy." Maybe that's why. :-)

    August 5, 2008

  • *pop!*

    August 5, 2008

  • "The doctor turned to the nurse. "Nurse, please go and bring me some tincture of valerian from the pharmacy. And some papaverine syrup.""

    The Tin Princess by Philip Pullman, p 272 of the 2008 Knopf paperback edition

    August 29, 2011

  • Wolverine's father.

    August 29, 2011