poultice

English

Etymology

From Middle English pultes, from Latin pultes, plural of puls. The phonological development from Middle English is regular; compare poultry.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpoʊltɪs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

poultice (plural poultices)

1. A soft, moist mass, usually wrapped in cloth and warmed, that is applied topically to a sore, aching or lesioned part of the body to soothe it.
   • 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:

     The poultice relaxeth the pores.

   • 1876, Eliza Bisbee Duffey, Our Behaviour: A Manual of Etiquette and Dress of the Best American Society, Philadelphia:

     Sties in the eye are irritating and disfiguring. Foment with warm water; at night apply a bread-and-milk poultice.

   • 2017 September 4, Jeff Kauffmann, “The Talented Mr. Dingleberry” (17:28 from the start), in American Dad!‎^[1], season 14, episode 21, spoken by Stan Smith (Seth MacFarlane):

     “Uh, Dad? I'm a little worried about Mom.” “She's fine. Just swab her with a little more of our patented homemade poultice. Available in the lobby!” (monstrous, plaintive moaning) “That's it. Really let those onion skins go to work.”

2. A porous solid filled with solvent, used to remove stains from porous stone such as marble or granite.

Synonyms

• cataplasm

Derived terms

• bread poultice
• poulticelike
• poultice pavement
• poulticewise

Translations

soft, moist mass applied topically to a part of the body

• Albanian: llapa (sq) f, jaki (sq) f
• Arabic: لَبْخَة f (labḵa)

  Tunisian Arabic: كاتاپلازما f (kataplāzma)

• Bulgarian: компрес (bg) m (kompres), лапа (bg) f (lapa)
• Catalan: cataplasma (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 泥敷劑 / 泥敷剂 (nífūjì)

• Danish: omslag n, grødomslag n (porridge-poultice)
• Dutch: papomslag n, cataplasma n
• Faroese: ^{(please verify)} greytarbak n
• Finnish: haude (fi)
• French: cataplasme (fr) m, emplâtre (fr) m
• Galician: emplasto m, cataplasma f, papuxas f pl
• German: Kataplasma n, Wickel (de) m, Umschlag (de) m, Packung (de) f
• Greek: κατάπλασμα (el) n (katáplasma)

  Ancient Greek: κατάπλασμα n (katáplasma)

• Irish: ceirín m
• Italian: cataplasma (it) m
• Japanese: 罨法 (ja) (anpō)
• Latin: fōmentum n
• Māori: whakapiripiri, tākai
• Norman: poussot m (Jersey), vithicatouaithe m (Jersey)
• Norwegian: grøtomslag n
• Plautdietsch: Pleista n
• Polish: kataplazm (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: emplastro (pt), emplasto (pt), cataplasma (pt) m or f
• Russian: припа́рка (ru) f (pripárka)
• Spanish: cataplasma (es) f, emplasto (es) m, émbroca f, embrocación f, emplaste (es) f, bizma (es) f (uncommon), pegote (es) m, pegatoste m (uncommon)
• Swedish: grötomslag (sv) n, foment (sv), omslag (sv) n
• Tocharian B: tsatsāpar
• Turkish: lapa (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: لاپه (lapa)

Verb

poultice (third-person singular simple present poultices, present participle poulticing, simple past and past participle poulticed)

1. (transitive) To treat with a poultice.

Anagrams

• epulotic