Definitions

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

  • adjective Impregnated with or containing salts of iron.
  • adjective Tasting like iron, as water from a mineral spring.
  • noun Water or medicine containing iron in solution.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Qualified by the presence of iron: applied to a medicine containing iron, and especially to springs and waters impregnated with iron, or holding iron in solution.
  • Relating to or characteristic of a spring or medicine containing iron: as, a chalybeate taste; chalybeate effects.
  • Steel-blue; chalybeous.
  • noun A mineral water or other liquid impregnated with iron.

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

  • adjective Impregnated with salts of iron; having a taste like iron.
  • noun Any water, liquid, or medicine, into which iron enters as an ingredient.

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

  • adjective Flavored with mineral salts
  • noun A mineral water that was a voguish general remedy during the 17th-19th century.

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

  • adjective containing or impregnated with or tasting of iron

Etymologies

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

[New Latin chalybeātus, from Latin chalybs, steel, from Greek khalups, khalub-, possibly from Khalups sing. of Khalubes, Chalybes, people of Asia Minor famous for their steel.]

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Examples

  • It will dissolve to some extent in water containing carbon dioxide, just as will calcium carbonate, and waters containing it are called chalybeate waters.

    An Elementary Study of Chemistry William McPherson

  • He pronounced each syllable of the word "chalybeate" very clearly, for it was a newly learned word, and he was proud of his ability to use it.

    Southern Stories Retold from St. Nicholas Various

  • We drank of every variety of water excepting pure water -- sometimes iron, sometimes sulphur; and, indeed, every kind of chalybeate, for every rill was impregnated in some way or another.

    Diary in America, Series One Frederick Marryat 1820

  • Leave aside property prices, and Bath, Ilkley and most of the others would be lovely if no chalybeate or other soothing water had ever seeped from their soil.

    In praise of … spa towns | Editorial 2011

  • During his time as Mayor of Thetford, Faux was responsible for developing the town's chalybeate spring.

    Index of People 2009

  • Its taste is strongly but to me pleasantly saline, with an aftertaste which hints of its invigorating chalybeate element, and an unobtrusive sparkle of carbonic acid gas which is to the boisterous energy of Soda Water as a smile is to loud laughter.

    Off to the Races 2007

  • Its taste is strongly but to me pleasantly saline, with an aftertaste which hints of its invigorating chalybeate element, and an unobtrusive sparkle of carbonic acid gas which is to the boisterous energy of Soda Water as a smile is to loud laughter.

    Off to the Races 2007

  • Rhubarb, soap, and chalybeate medicines and waters, are almost always specifics for obstructions of the liver; but then a very exact regimen is necessary, and that for a long continuance.

    Letters to his son on The Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman 2005

  • Soap and steel are, unquestionably, the proper medicines for your case; but as they are alteratives, you must take them for a very long time, six months at least; and then drink chalybeate waters.

    Letters to his son on The Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman 2005

  • And sometimes he would go down in a hired vehicle and a sealskin trimmed coat, and sometimes, when his feet permitted, he would walk to the Pantiles, and there he would sip chalybeate water under the eye of his cousin Jane.

    The Food of the Gods and how it came to Earth Herbert George 2004

Comments

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  • "He glanced at the measures recommended: diet low but not too low, bleeding of course, cupping, saline purgatives, emetics, camphorated vinegar, the strait waistcoat, blistering the head, chalybeate waters, the cold bath; and closed the book."

    --Patrick O'Brian, The Thirteen Gun Salute, 281

    March 5, 2008