unguent

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Noun 1.3.1 Quotations 1.4 See also

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

From Latin unguentum (“‘ointment’”), from unguō (“‘smear with ointment’”), from Proto-Indo-European *ongw- (“‘to salve’”).

Cognates include Old Prussian anctan, Old High German ancho, German anke (“‘butter’”), Welsh ymenyn (“‘butter’”).

[edit] Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈʌŋgwənt/
•  Audio (US)^{help, file}

[edit] Noun

unguent (plural unguents)

1. any cream containing medicinal ingredients applied to the skin for therapeutic purposes

[edit] Quotations

• 1809-1812 — William Combe, Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque

  "Alas!" said Syntax, "could I pop / Just now, upon a blacksmith's shop, / Whose cooling unguents would avail / To save poor Grizzle's ears and tail!"

• 1853 — Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Golden Fleece

  So she put a golden box into his hand, and directed him how to apply the perfumed unguent which it contained, and where to meet her at midnight.

• 1890 — Arthur Conan Doyle, A Literary Mosaic

  Thou knowest of old that my temper is somewhat choleric, and my tongue not greased with that unguent which oils the mouths of the lip-serving lords of the land.

[edit] See also

• medicine
• ointment