bromide

What it means

1. chemistryA binary compound of bromine and some other element or radical.
   1. chemistryAny salt of hydrobromic acid.
2. chemistryThe anionic form of a bromine atom.

   1 more example

   “How fortunate Buddha, Mahomed, and Shakespeare were that their kind relations and doctors did not cure them of their ecstasy and their inspiration,” said Kovrin. “If Mahomed had taken bromide for his nerves, had worked only two hours out of the twenty-four, and had drunk milk, that remarkable man would have left no more trace after him than his dog. […]”

   1894, Anton Chekhov, translated by Constance Garnett, The Black Monk, published 1917

In a sentence

“How fortunate Buddha, Mahomed, and Shakespeare were that their kind relations and doctors did not cure them of their ecstasy and their inspiration,” said Kovrin. “If Mahomed had taken bromide for his nerves, had worked only two hours out of the twenty-four, and had drunk milk, that remarkable man would have left no more trace after him than his dog. […]”

1894, Anton Chekhov, translated by Constance Garnett, The Black Monk, published 1917

Where it comes from

From brom- + -ide. First used in the sense “dull person” by American artist, art critic, poet, author and humorist Gelett Burgess. Figurative sense ("platitude") by extending the medicating sense through the metaphor of pacifying or placating.