alexitery
alexitery noun: an antidote to poison.
Noun
alexitery (plural alexiteries)
- An antidote to poison.
- These miserable Wretches are included herein with hot bricks, and almost suffocated, till they sweat abundantly in every part of their bodyes, having before drunk of the Decoction of Lignum sanctum, or Sarsaparilla, or some other Alexitery, which will both move sweat, and deleate the French disease.1657, Jean de Renou, A Medicinal Dispensatory, page 189
- Galen saith, as deleteries they are inimical to nature, especially if the party that wears them be given to much labour, exercise, or motion; neither can I advise such, if any, with hope of good success to use them ; but suppose they be made of alexiteries, then Galen nor any judicious person doth...1665, Thomas Cock, Plain and Practical Disourse upon the first of Xix Nonnaturals
- Synonyms:
- alexiteric
Adjective
alexitery (comparative more alexitery, superlative most alexitery)
- Acting as an antidote to poison.
- Yet some things attract specifically, and not by a manifest quality : as things that are carthartic or purging, and alexitery, or resisting poison.1802, Nicholas Culpeper, Ebenezer Sibly, Culpeper's English Physician and Compelete Herbal, page 5
- Synonyms:
- alexiteric
Synonyms of alexitery
Forms of alexitery
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | alexiteries |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more alexitery |
| superlative | most alexitery |
Origin of alexitery
From New Latin alexiterium and its etymon Ancient Greek ἀλεξητήριον (alexētḗrion, “remedy”), from neuter of ἀλεξητήριος (alexētḗrios, “keeping off, defending”), from ἀλεξητήρ (alexētḗr, “defender, protector”) + -ιος (-ios, adjectival suffix), from extended stem of ἀλέξω (aléxō, “to ward off”) + ‑τήρ (‑tḗr, agent noun suffix).
From New Latin alexiterius, from Ancient Greek ἀλεξητήριος (alexētḗrios, “keeping off, defending”); see Etymology 1.
Questions about alexitery
- What does alexitery mean?
- Alexitery means an antidote to poison.
- What part of speech is alexitery?
- Alexitery can be a noun or an adjective.
- What is the plural of alexitery?
- The plural of alexitery is alexiteries.
Words near alexitery in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: alexitery (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “alexitery.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/alexitery. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.