apothecary

English

WOTD – 3 June 2010

Etymology

From Old French apotecaire, from Medieval Latin apothecarius (“storekeeper”), from apotheca (“shop, store”), earlier Latin apotheca (“repository, storehouse, warehouse”), from Ancient Greek ἀποθήκη (apothḗkē, “a repository, storehouse”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /əˈpɒθəkəɹi/
• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈpɑθəˌkɛəɹi/

• Audio (US)

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Noun

apothecary (plural apothecaries)

1. (now historical) A person who makes and provides/sells drugs and/or medicines.
   • 1597, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, Act V, scene 3 (First Folio ed.)

     O true Apothecarie!
     Thy drugs are quicke. Thus with a kiſſe I die.

2. (nonstandard, now historical) A drugstore or pharmacy.
   • 1919, S.A., “Pharmacy in Russia”, in Soviet Russia, volume 1, number 27, page 6:

     The Russian people as a whole almost revered the apothecary, and they entered it as they would enter a sanctum.

   • 1998, Karen Holliday Tanner, Doc Holliday: A Family Portrait, University of Oklahoma Press (2001), ISBN 978-0-8061-3320-1, pages 205–206:

     He was befriended by a local druggist, Jay Miller, who worked at the apothecary at the corner of Sixth and Harrison Street.

   • 2001, Audrey Horning, “Archeology and the Science of Discovery”, in Barbara Heath et al., Jamestown Archeological Assessment, U.S. National Parks Service, page 31:

     Seeds found in a 1630s refuse-filled clay borrow pit, located near an apothecary, illustrate colonists ^[sic] intense interest in experimenting with the medicinal qualities of New World plants.

Synonyms

• (person who makes and sells drugs): druggist, pharmacist, chemist
• (store that sells drugs): drugstore; pharmacy; apothecary's shop, apothecary's (UK)

Translations

pharmacist — see pharmacist

pharmacy — see pharmacy

See also

• Apothecary on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Pharmacy on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Further reading

• apothecary in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• apothecary in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• apothecary at OneLook Dictionary Search