Alexitery
adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 An antidote to poison. historical, rare
"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."
- 1 Acting as an antidote to poison. obsolete
"Yet some things attract specifically, and not by a manifest quality : as things that are carthartic or purging, and alexitery, or resisting poison."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"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."
Etymology
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.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.