Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Inducing the expulsion of excess gas from the stomach and intestines.
  • noun A carminative drug or agent.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Expelling, or having the quality of expelling, wind from the alimentary canal.
  • noun A medicine which tends to expel wind, and to remedy colic and flatulence.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Expelling wind from the body; warming; antispasmodic.
  • noun A substance, esp. an aromatic, which tends to expel wind from the alimentary canal, or to relieve colic, griping, or flatulence.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Relieving discomfort of gas in the digestive tract.
  • noun medicine A drug or substance that induces the removal of gas from the digestive tract.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun medication that prevents the formation of gas in the alimentary tract or eases its passing
  • adjective relieving gas in the alimentary tract (colic or flatulence or griping)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English carminatif, from Old French, from Latin carminātus, past participle of carmināre, to card wool, from *carmen, card for wool, from cārere, to card.]

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Examples

  • In this connection it is interesting to note that, according to one authority, the word carminative, a remedy which relieves pain "like a charm," is derived from the Latin _carminare_, to use incantations.

    Primitive Psycho-Therapy and Quackery Robert Means Lawrence

  • Everything was in the word carminative -- a detailed, exact foreground, an immense, indefinite hinterland of suggestion.

    Crome Yellow Aldous Huxley 1928

  • Everything was in the word carminative -- a detailed, exact foreground, an immense, indefinite hinterland of suggestion.

    Crome Yellow Huxley, Aldous, 1894-1963 1921

  • From boyhood the romantic, poetically inclined hero, Denis Stone, found the word carminative particularly evocative.

    VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol XV No 2 1984

  • Ginger can be classified as a carminative in addition to an antiflammatory and diaphoretic herb.

    Wil's Ebay E-Store amp;34;Weight Loss 2010

  • Ginger can be classified as a carminative in addition to an antiflammatory and diaphoretic herb.

    Wil's Ebay E-Store amp;34;Weight Loss 2010

  • It's a great idea to add lots to your food as black pepper is what is known as a carminative, a substance that helps prevent intestinal gas from forming (and, in turn, flatulence), and anything that can help in that department has to be a bonus.

    FOXNews.com 2010

  • The medical term "carminative," a comforting medicine, really means a charm medicine, and has the same derivation.

    Three Thousand Years of Mental Healing George Barton Cutten

  • I had a whole poem ruined, just because the word 'carminative' didn't mean what it ought to have meant.

    Crome Yellow Aldous Huxley 1928

  • Later, when I discovered alcohol, 'carminative' described for me that similar, but nobler, more spiritual glow which wine evokes not only in the body but in the soul as well.

    Crome Yellow Huxley, Aldous, 1894-1963 1921

Comments

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  • JM enjoys a good old fashioned, immature carminative joke

    May 26, 2010

  • "Let mental suffering be intense enough, and it becomes a sort of carminative."

    Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees, p 98 of the Cold Spring Press paperback

    December 6, 2016

  • Cool word!

    July 26, 2022