Word.ws English Dictionary

Edison's medicine

Edison's medicine noun: electroconvulsive therapy.

Noun

Edison's medicine (uncountable)

  1. (humorous) Electroconvulsive therapy.
    • They used to call it "Edison's medicine" or, with a touch of gallows humor, a "Georgia Power cocktail" — the practice of hooking mentally troubled patients up to an electrical current and jolting them until they went into convulsions.2011 March 19, Andrew Zajac, “FDA revisits risks of electric shock treatment”, in Los Angeles Times, retrieved 25 Jan 2014
    • The use of electroshock as mind-erasing punishment was dramatized in the 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and that negative portrayal almost served as a death knell for a practice derided as "Edison's medicine."2012 May 11, “The rise of electroshock therapy: A guide”, in The Week, retrieved 25 Jan 2014

Origin of Edison's medicine

After Thomas Edison (1847–1931), American inventor who pioneered applications of electricity. Chosen for the near-rhyme.

Questions about Edison's medicine

What does Edison's medicine mean?
Edison's medicine means electroconvulsive therapy.
What part of speech is Edison's medicine?
Edison's medicine is a noun.

Words near Edison's medicine in the dictionary

  1. Edison bulb
  2. Edison bulbs
  3. Edison effect
  4. Edison screw
  5. Edison screws
  6. Edison's medicine
  7. edisonade
  8. edisonades
  9. Edisonian
  10. Edisons
  11. edistin

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Edison's medicine (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.

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