apothecary
nounUK /əˈpɒθəkəɹi/ · US /əˈpɑθəˌkɛəɹi/
Etymology From Old French apotecaire (whence French apothicaire), from Medieval Latin apothecarius (“storekeeper”), from Latin apotheca (“(originally) repository, storehouse, warehouse; (later) shop, store”), from Ancient Greek ἀποθήκη (apothḗkē, “a repository, storehouse”), from ἀπό (apó, “away”) + τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put”), literally “a place where things are put away”. Doublet of apotheke, boutique, and bodega.
Archaic, Dated, In UK, In US Synonym of pharmacist: a person who sells medicine, especially (historical) one who made and sold their own medicines in the medieval or early modern eras.
- [T]he poticaries and barbarus wryters call it [the iris] Irios in the genetiue caſe.1562, Wylliam Turner [i.e., William Turner], “Of the Herbe Called in Latin Irio”, in The Second Parte of Guilliam Turners Herball⸝ […], Cologne: […] Arnold Birckman, →OCLC, folio 23, recto:
- O true Appothecarie! / Thy drugs are quicke. Thus with a kiſſe I die.c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], page 75, column 2:
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- The girls, though their illness was long and dangerous, recovered under Mrs. Palmer's care, who watched over them as if they had been her own; and from that time an affection, as valuable as it was pleasant, sprang up between them. When Lady Anne returned, she called, and talked about every thing but the apothecary's bill.1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter V, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 62:
- It amused me to see the bustle and the life in the apothecary's shop across the street.1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 2:
- [K]nowledge of philtres, aphrodisiacs, and other sexual stimulants spread from the Arabs and the Moors, from Egypt and India into the European herbals, pharmacopeias, and apothecaries’ lore, and, on a more indeterminate level, among alchemists, wizards, and occultists.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 155:
Archaic, Historical Synonym of pharmacy: an apothecary's shop, a drugstore.
- The Russian people as a whole almost revered the apothecary, and they entered it as they would enter a sanctum.1919, S.A., “Pharmacy in Russia”, in Soviet Russia, volume 1, number 27, page 6
- He was befriended by a local druggist, Jay Miller, who worked at the apothecary at the corner of Sixth and Harrison Street.1998, Karen Holliday Tanner, Doc Holliday: A Family Portrait, University of Oklahoma Press, published 2001, →ISBN, pages 205–206:
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- Seeds found in a 1630s refuse-filled clay borrow pit, located near an apothecary, illustrate colonists intense interest in experimenting with the medicinal qualities of New World plants.2001, Audrey Horning, “Archeology and the Science of Discovery”, in Barbara Heath et al., Jamestown Archeological Assessment, U.S. National Parks Service, page 31
Uncommon A glass jar of the sort once used for storing medicine.
- Derived terms
- apothecarial, apothecary rose, apothecaryship
- Related terms
- apothecary's Latin, apothecary's shop, apothecia, apothecium, bibliotheca, hypothec, hypothecate, spermatheca, talk like an apothecary, theca, thecal, thecate, thecium, thecodonts