Etymology From Latin antidotum, from Ancient Greek ἀντίδοτον (antídoton, “antidote, remedy”), Clipping of ἀντίδοτον φάρμακον (antídoton phármakon, “drug given against”), from ἀντιδίδωμι (antidídōmi, “to give in return, repay”), from ἀντί (antí, “against”) + δίδωμι (dídōmi, “to give”). Compare French antidote.
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A remedy to counteract the effects of poison.
She reached the hospital in time to receive the antidote for the snake venom.
Can'ſt thou not Miniſter to a minde diſeas'd, / Plucke from the Memory a rooted Sorrow, / Raze out the written troubles of the Braine, / And with ſome ſweet Obliuious Antidote / Cleanſe the ſtufft boſome, of that perillous ſtuffe / Which weighes vpon the heart?c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], page 149, column 2:
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The druids […] believed that mistletoe could make barren animals fecund, and that it was an antidote to all poisons.2014 December 23, Olivia Judson, “The hemiparasite season”, in The New York Times:
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Figuratively Something that counteracts or prevents something harmful.
Etymology From Latin antidotum, from Ancient Greek ἀντίδοτον (antídoton, “antidote, remedy”), Clipping of ἀντίδοτον φάρμακον (antídoton phármakon, “drug given against”), from ἀντιδίδωμι (antidídōmi, “to give in return, repay”), from ἀντί (antí, “against”) + δίδωμι (dídōmi, “to give”). Compare French antidote.
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To counteract as an antidote.
Had she been less brilliantly efficient it might have ruined her business; had she been less impossibly absurd it would have spoiled her pleasure, but the two things simply antidoted one another.1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries:
For his part, the patient must avoid some commonplace substances in order to avoid antidoting or stopping the action of the homeopathic remedy[…]2007, Suzanne C. Lawton, Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman, Asperger syndrome: natural steps toward a better life, page 143: