Coction
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 An act of boiling. obsolete
- 2 Digestion. obsolete
- 3 The change which the humoralists believed morbific matter undergoes before elimination. archaic, historical
"But it is found by ſad experience, that ſhe rouſes herſelf up to make a criſis, not only upon improper, and, as phyſicians call them, intercident days, […] vvhich ſeldom afford any criſis, and much ſeldomer a good one; but alſo vvhen there appear not any ſigns of coction, or at leaſt of due coction, and by theſe unſeaſonable attempts vveaken the patient, and increaſe the malady, or perhaps make it ſpeedily mortal."
Example
More examples"But it is found by ſad experience, that ſhe rouſes herſelf up to make a criſis, not only upon improper, and, as phyſicians call them, intercident days, […] vvhich ſeldom afford any criſis, and much ſeldomer a good one; but alſo vvhen there appear not any ſigns of coction, or at leaſt of due coction, and by theſe unſeaſonable attempts vveaken the patient, and increaſe the malady, or perhaps make it ſpeedily mortal."
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin coctio, coctionis.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.