quinine

[ kwahy-nahyn, kwin-ahyn or, especially British, kwi-neen ]
See synonyms for quinine on Thesaurus.com
nounChemistry, Pharmacology.
  1. a white, bitter, slightly water-soluble alkaloid, C20H24N2O2, having needlelike crystals, obtained from cinchona bark: used in medicine chiefly in the treatment of resistant forms of malaria.

  2. a salt of this alkaloid, especially the sulfate.

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Origin of quinine

1
1820–30; <Spanish quin(a) (<Quechua kina bark) + -ine2

Words Nearby quinine

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use quinine in a sentence

  • The sight of this last reminded the official that he had fever lately; Could the Englishman spare him a little quinine?

    The Cradle of Mankind | W.A. Wigram
  • Doses were given out to all who wished for it, for a few grains of quinine seldom go amiss in this country.

    Silver Chimes in Syria | W. S. Nelson

British Dictionary definitions for quinine

quinine

/ (kwɪˈniːn, US ˈkwaɪnaɪn) /


noun
  1. a bitter crystalline alkaloid extracted from cinchona bark, the salts of which are used as a tonic, antipyretic, analgesic, etc, and in malaria therapy. Formula: C 20 H 24 N 2 O 2

Origin of quinine

1
C19: from Spanish quina cinchona bark, from Quechua kina bark

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for quinine

quinine

[ kwīnīn′ ]


  1. A bitter-tasting, colorless drug derived from the bark of certain cinchona trees and used medicinally to treat malaria. For hundreds of years quinine was the only drug known to effectively combat malarial infection. It has since been largely replaced by synthetic compounds that not only relieve the symptoms of malaria but also rid the body of the malarial parasite, which quinine does not do. See Note at aspirin.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.