Theriac
adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A universal antidote against all poisons, particularly medicines considered to derive from a recipe of the Roman physician Andromachus and representing an improvement on mithridate. countable, historical, uncountable
"This excellent triacle Methridatum is nexte in qualitye and virtue to Theriaca... but onely Theriaca is a little hotter and stronger againste venyme of Snakes."
- 2 A hyponym of panacea. countable, figuratively, uncountable
- 3 Synonym of antidote, particularly (pseudoscience) those incorporating snakemeat to cure snakebite. archaic, countable, uncountable
"...ane half vnce of guid auld theriac..."
- 4 Synonym of molasses. countable, obsolete, uncountable
- 1 Synonym of theriacal: of or related to theriac.
- 2 Synonym of medicinal. obsolete
Example
More examples"This excellent triacle Methridatum is nexte in qualitye and virtue to Theriaca... but onely Theriaca is a little hotter and stronger againste venyme of Snakes."
Etymology
From Medieval Latin theriacum, from Ancient Greek θηριακὸν (thēriakòn) and Late Latin theriaca, from Ancient Greek θηριακὴ (thēriakḕ, “of or related to poisonous reptiles”), from θηρίον (thēríon, “little beast”) + -κός (-kós), from θήρ (thḗr, “beast”) + -ίον (-íon, diminutive suffix). Doublet of theriaca.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.