Dictionary
Thesaurus
Reference
Translate
Web
Related Searches
on Ask.com
Synonyms
Nearby Entries
tonic - 14 dictionary results
Tonik (Official Site)
 Low Cost Health Care - Adults 19-29 Medical, Dental, Vision- We Got It!
 www.Tonik.com/CA
Tonik Anthem Blue Cross
 Apply now Medical, Dental & Vision Combined in one inexpensive plan
 www.tonikforhealth.com
Blue Cross Tonik Plans
 Low Cost Health Plans-Young Adults Apply Online or Call 800 585 1776
 www.tonik-healthplans.com

ton⋅ic

  [ton-ik]
Use tonic in a Sentence
–noun
1. a medicine that invigorates or strengthens: a tonic of sulphur and molasses.
2. anything invigorating physically, mentally, or morally: His cheerful greeting was a real tonic.
3. quinine water.
4. Music. the first degree of the scale; the keynote.
5. Chiefly Eastern New England. soda pop.
6. Phonetics. a tonic syllable or accent.
–adjective
7. pertaining to, maintaining, increasing, or restoring the tone or health of the body or an organ, as a medicine.
8. invigorating physically, mentally, or morally.
9. Physiology, Pathology.
a. pertaining to tension, as of the muscles.
b. marked by continued muscular tension: a tonic spasm.
10. using differences in tone or pitch to distinguish between words that are otherwise phonemically identical: a tonic language.
11. pertaining to tone or accent in speech.
12. Phonetics. (of a syllable) bearing the principal stress or accent, usually accompanied by a change in pitch.
13. Music.
a. of or pertaining to a tone or tones.
b. pertaining to or founded on the keynote, or first tone, of a musical scale: a tonic chord.
Origin:
1640–50; < Gk tonikós pertaining to stretching or tones. See tone, -ic

Related forms:
ton⋅i⋅cal⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
2. stimulant, restorative, bracer, pickup.

Regional variation note:
5. See soda pop.
Tonik (Official Site)
 Low Cost Health Care - Adults 19-29 Medical, Dental, Vision- We Got It!
 www.Tonik.com/CA
Tonik Anthem Blue Cross
 Apply now Medical, Dental & Vision Combined in one inexpensive plan
 www.tonikforhealth.com

-tonic

 
a combining form occurring in adjectives that correspond to nouns ending in -tonia: catatonic.
Origin:
see tonic

quinine water

 
–noun
carbonated water containing lemon, lime, sweetener, and quinine, often used as a mixer.
Also called tonic, tonic water.

Origin:
1950–55
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To tonic
soft drink  
n.   In both senses also called soda pop; also called regionally cold drink, drink, pop1, soda, soda water, tonic.
  1. A nonalcoholic, flavored, carbonated beverage, usually commercially prepared and sold in bottles or cans.
  2. A serving of this beverage. See Regional Note at tonic.
ton·ic   (tŏn'ĭk)   
n.  
  1. An agent, such as a medication, that restores or increases body tone.
  2. An invigorating, refreshing, or restorative agent or influence.
  3. See tonic water.
  4. Boston See soft drink.
  5. Music The first note of a diatonic scale; the keynote.
  6. Linguistics A tonic accent.
adj.  
  1. Producing or stimulating physical, mental, or emotional vigor.
    1. Physiology Of, relating to, or producing tone or tonicity in muscles or tissue: a tonic reflex.
    2. Medicine Characterized by continuous tension or contraction of muscles: a tonic convulsion or spasm.
  3. Music Of or based on the keynote.
  4. Stressed, as a syllable; accented.

[New Latin tonicus, of tension or tone, from Greek tonikos, capable of extension, from tonos, a stretching, tone; see tone.]
ton'i·cal·ly adv.
Generic terms for carbonated soft drinks vary widely in the United States. Probably the two most common words competing for precedence are soda, used in the northeast United States as well as St. Louis and vicinity, and pop, used from the Midwest westward. In the South any soft drink, regardless of flavor or brand name, is referred to as a Coke, cold drink, or just plain drink. Speakers in Boston and its environs have a term of their own: tonic. Such a variety of regional equivalents is unusual for a product for which advertising is so aggressive and universal; usually advertising has the effect of squeezing out regional variants. On the other hand, there are so many types and flavors of soft drinks that perhaps no single generic word has ever emerged to challenge the regionalisms. See Note at dope.
tonic water  
n.  A carbonated beverage flavored with quinine. Also called quinine water, tonic.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Tonic

Ton"ic\, a. (Med.) Characterized by continuous muscular contraction; as, tonic convulsions.

Tonic

Ton"ic\, a. [Cf. F. tonigue, Gr. ?. See Tone.]

1. Of or relating to tones or sounds; specifically (Phon.), applied to, or distingshing, a speech sound made with tone unmixed and undimmed by obstruction, such sounds, namely, the vowels and diphthongs, being so called by Dr. James Rush (1833) " from their forming the purest and most plastic material of intonation."

2. Of or pertaining to tension; increasing tension; hence, increasing strength; as, tonic power.

3. (Med.) Increasing strength, or the tone of the animal system; obviating the effects of debility, and restoring healthy functions.

Tonic spasm. (Med.) See the Note under Spasm.

Tonic

Ton"ic\, n. [Cf. F. tonique, NL. tonicum.]

1. (Phon.) A tonic element or letter; a vowel or a diphthong.

2. (Mus.) The key tone, or first tone of any scale.

3. (Med.) A medicine that increases the strength, and gives vigor of action to the system.

Tonic sol-fa (Mus.), the name of the most popular among letter systems of notation (at least in England), based on key relationship, and hence called "tonic." Instead of the five lines, clefs, signature, etc., of the usual notation, it employs letters and the syllables do, re, mi, etc., variously modified, with other simple signs of duration, of upper or lower octave, etc. See Sol-fa.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Cite This Source
Language Translation for : tonic
Spanish: tónico,
German: das Stärkungsmittel,
Japanese: 強壮剤
More Translations »

tonic  (adj.)
1649, "relating to or characterized by muscular tension," from Gk. tonikos "of stretching," from tonos "a stretching" (see tenet). The meaning "maintaining the healthy firmness of tissues" is recorded from 1684, first extended 1756 to "having the property of restoring to health." The noun meaning "a tonic medicine" is attested from 1799. The musical sense is first attested 1760, from tone (q.v.).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source

Main Entry: 1ton·ic
Pronunciation: 'tän-ik
Function: adjective
1 a : characterized by tonus <tonic contraction ofmuscle>; also : marked by or being prolonged muscular contraction <tonic convulsions> b : producing or adapted to produce healthy muscular condition andreaction of organs (as muscles)
2 a : increasing or restoring physical or mental tone b : yielding a tonic substance —ton·i·cal·ly /'tän-i-k(&-)lE/ adverb

Main Entry: 2tonic
Function: noun
: an agent (as a drug) that increases body tone
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
Cite This Source

tonic ton·ic (tŏn'ĭk)
adj.

  1. Of or producing tone or tonicity in muscles or tissue.
  2. Characterized by continuous tension or contraction of muscles, as a convulsion or spasm.
  3. Producing or stimulating physical, mental, or emotional vigor.
n.
An agent, such as a medication, that restores or increases body tone.

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

tonic

in music, the first note (degree) of any diatonic (e.g., major or minor) scale. It is the most important degree of the scale, serving as the focus for both melody and harmony. The term tonic may also refer to the tonic triad, the chord built in thirds from the tonic note (as C-E-G in C major). See also tonality.

Learn more about tonic with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
Cite This Source
Search another word or see tonic on Thesaurus | Reference
Blue Cross Tonik Plans
 Low Cost Health Plans-Young Adults Apply Online or Call 800 585 1776
 www.tonik-healthplans.com
BlueCross Tonik Insurance
 Low cost medical, dental & vision. Apply today: Get covered today
 www.tonik.us
Tonik - Aseguranza Medica
 Blue Cross de California Te Cubrimos En Solo 10 Minutos
 www.TonikPlanCa.com