What does "physic" mean?

Physic: A specific internal application for the cure or relief of sickness; a remedy for disease; a medicine.

Additional senses

  1. 2.Specifically, a medicine that purges; a cathartic.
  2. 3.A physician. [R.] Shak. Physic nut (Bot.), a small tropical American euphorbiaceous tree (Jatropha Curcas), and its seeds, which are well flavored, but contain a drastic oil which renders them dangerous if eaten in large quantities.
  3. 4.To treat with physic or medicine; to administer medicine to, esp. a cathartic; to operate on as a cathartic; to purge.
  4. 5.To work on as a remedy; to heal; to cure. The labor we delight in physics pain. Shak. A mind diseased no remedy can physic. Byron.

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