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6 dictionary results for: Nostrum
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
nos·trum       [nos-truhm] Pronunciation Key
–noun
1.a medicine sold with false or exaggerated claims and with no demonstrable value; quack medicine.
2.a scheme, theory, device, etc., esp. one to remedy social or political ills; panacea.
3.a medicine made by the person who recommends it.
4.a patent medicine.
[Origin: 1595–1605; < L nostrum our, ours (neut. sing. of noster); referring to the seller's calling the drug “our” drug]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
nos·trum       (nŏs'trəm)  Pronunciation Key 
n.  
  1. A medicine whose effectiveness is unproved and whose ingredients are usually secret; a quack remedy.
  2. A favorite but usually ineffective remedy for problems or evils.


[From Latin nostrum (remedium), our (remedy), neuter of noster; see nes-2 in Indo-European roots.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
nostrum 
"quack medicine," 1602, from L. nostrum remedium "our remedy," presumably that prepared by the person offering it, from L. nostrum, neut. of noster "our," from nos "we," from PIE *nos (see us).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
nostrum

noun
1. hypothetical remedy for all ills or diseases; once sought by the alchemists [syn: panacea] 
2. patent medicine whose efficacy is questionable 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

nostrum nos·trum (nŏs'trəm)
n.
A medicine whose effectiveness is unproved and whose ingredients are usually secret; a quack remedy.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Nostrum

Nos"trum\ (-tr[u^]m), n.; pl. Nostrums (-tr[u^]mz). [Neut. sing. of L. noster ours, fr. nos we. See Us.]

1. A medicine, the ingredients of which are kept secret for the purpose of restricting the profits of sale to the inventor or proprietor; a quack medicine.

2. Any scheme or device proposed by a quack.

The incentives of agitators, the arts of impostors and the nostrums of quacks. --Brougham.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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