Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A highly viscous or semisolid substance used on the skin as a cosmetic, emollient, or medicament; a salve.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A fatty or unctuous preparation of such a consistency as to be easily applied to the skin by inunction, gradually liquefying when in contact with it.
- noun Spermaceti, white wax, oil of almonds, and glycerin.
- noun In the German pharmacopoeia, glycerite of starch.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun That which serves to anoint; any soft unctuous substance used for smearing or anointing; an unguent.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun medicine A
viscous preparation ofoils and/orfats , usually containingmedication , used as atreatment or as anemollient .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun semisolid preparation (usually containing a medicine) applied externally as a remedy or for soothing an irritation
- noun toiletry consisting of any of various substances in the form of a thick liquid that have a soothing and moisturizing effect when applied to the skin
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
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Examples
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The real fly in the ointment is that fact that you can be guaranteed to have a Lib Dem conference spoilt each year by some nutty motion which might attract the headlines, but puts the party in the dock with the public.
Archive 2009-08-01 Norfolk Blogger 2009
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A very important fly in the ointment is that many German producers opt out of the official system and have their private systems, e.g. Grosses Gewächs, etc. with no dryness/sweetness indicator; one is supposed to know and perhaps Germans, to whom most of these are sold, do know?
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The only fly in the ointment is that despite their good college grades and creditable LSATs, a substantial fraction of the class comes to law school unable to write as well as they think or speak.
Discourse.net: Ten Reasons Why You Should Teach Here -- And Three Why You Shouldn't (v. 3.0) 2009
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The real fly in the ointment is that fact that you can be guaranteed to have a Lib Dem conference spoilt each year by some nutty motion which might attract the headlines, but puts the party in the dock with the public.
What do party conferences achieve outside of political circles ? Norfolk Blogger 2009
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Periocular ulcerative dermatitis associated with gentamicin ointment prophylaxis in newborns.
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Maybe if Mommy would rub the Desytin ointment in real good he would be able to answer questions.
Think Progress » Ridge Defends Napolitano From Right-Wing Attacks: The Criticisms Are ‘Misplaced’ 2010
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The only fly in the ointment is that despite their good college grades and creditable LSATs, a substantial fraction of the class comes to law school unable to write as well as they think or speak.
Discourse.net: Ten Reasons Why You Should Teach Here -- And Three Why You Shouldn't (v. 2.0) 2008
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I have skin as thin as an onion, but I assure you this cream was the thing that really promoted healing of my breasts, I used it and lanolin but it was easier to tolerate because the nipple ointment is so soft and the lanolin made me scream to get it spread on.
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If betamethasone ointment is unavailable, mometasone ointment (15 grams) can be used instead.
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The fly in the ointment is that in a lot of the foreclosure-heavy areas, that $1500-$1800 spread is actually $1500-$4200, after the two year teaser rate mortgage has reset and the rate jumps.
Waldo Jaquith - Fannie Mae renting out foreclosed homes. 2008
muamor commented on the word ointment
Strong urge to write oinkment here.
March 4, 2008
reesetee commented on the word ointment
And you did! :-)
March 4, 2008
bilby commented on the word ointment
Lots of bad vibe for ointment judging by the list titles.
May 13, 2009
hernesheir commented on the word ointment
One sometimes wishes there was an ointment for stupid.
December 2, 2010
pterodactyl commented on the word ointment
"Ointment" currently appears on 16 lists with negative themes ("Words I Dislike", "Words I Hate", "Words I Hate With the Fire of a Thousand Suns", etc.), and only 4 lists with positive themes ("Words I Like", etc.).
The only possible explanation for this shameful attack and scurrilous slander of a lovely and wonderful word is that reesetee and I (and dornyika and janicemc) are the only sane users on Wordnik. The rest of you are all quite clearly insane. And you probably hate freedom, too.
December 2, 2010
ruzuzu commented on the word ointment
Umbrage! What about those of us who don't care one way or the other?
December 2, 2010
mollusque commented on the word ointment
Pterodactyl, you haven't listed freedom, so I can only conclude that you hate it too.
December 2, 2010
pterodactyl commented on the word ointment
Ruzuzu, you're either with us, or against us. If our great nation becomes apathetic about words like ointment, then the terrorists have won.
December 3, 2010
ruzuzu commented on the word ointment
*frosts fufluns with ointment and prepares to fire, thinks of some reason not to fire, feels umbrage again, then just wanders off*
December 3, 2010
pterodactyl commented on the word ointment
Gasp! I take umbrage, mollusque, at your baseful accusations.
December 3, 2010
ruzuzu commented on the word ointment
Hey! That's my umbrage!
December 3, 2010
Prolagus commented on the word ointment
Perhaps ruzuzu is a FIFA infiltrator.
December 3, 2010
ruzuzu commented on the word ointment
Ah, Mr. Prolagus, you are a worthy opponent. Bravo! You've found me out. My ointmenting of fufluns was all just an elaborate ruse.
December 3, 2010
pterodactyl commented on the word ointment
Brackets around "ointmenting", please. :-)
December 3, 2010
ruzuzu commented on the word ointment
*arranges secret meeting between FIFA officials and ointment manufacturers*
December 3, 2010
ruzuzu commented on the word ointment
*inquires about the balance of a certain account in the Cayman Islands*
December 3, 2010
ruzuzu commented on the word ointment
*smiles*
December 3, 2010
Prolagus commented on the word ointment
I recognize an evil smile when I read one.
December 3, 2010
ruzuzu commented on the word ointment
The ointment reserves in Qatar and Russia should keep my FIFA friends rolling in soothing relief for years to come....
December 3, 2010
ruzuzu commented on the word ointment
What's so evil about that?
December 3, 2010
ruzuzu commented on the word ointment
*smiles*
December 3, 2010
reesetee commented on the word ointment
*storms in on milton-bradley fighting vehicle*
Hey! No ointmenting of fufluns, ruseless or not!
Why of all the....
*takes umbrage and rumbles out*
December 3, 2010
ruzuzu commented on the word ointment
*collects any far-flung fufluns, then reports back to an unmarked car over on book-number*
December 3, 2010
dontcry commented on the word ointment
*fetches far-flung fuflun fragments for future feasts*
December 4, 2010
reesetee commented on the word ointment
*stumbles over dontcry's liberal scattering of Fs*
December 5, 2010
blafferty commented on the word ointment
Clearly you people are deliberately creating the need for ointment with all your mess.
April 27, 2011