weapon-salve
nounUK /ˈwɛpən salv/
1
Historical A type of ointment formerly applied to a weapon, believed to heal a wound caused by that weapon.
- One of his great enthusiasms was for a "sympathetic" weapon salve, an idea originating in Paracelsus.1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 225:
- The supreme example of a magical cure justified by the Neoplatonist belief in occult influences and sympathies was the weapon-salve, around which a fierce controversy raged in the 1630s.1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 184:
1 more example
- A century earlier Paracelsus had described the weapon-salve, which was prepared from a number of ingredients including the blood of the injured person.2002, Allen G Debus, The Chemical Philosophy, page 246:
- Related terms
- hoplochrism, powder of sympathy