Meanings
- humorousuncountablemedicineElectroconvulsive therapy.
So this woman who has had Edison's medicine (electroshock treatment) and medication, and who has the good fortune to have such a "sister" as Ginger, has lost everything.
2013 August 5, David Thomson, "Woody Allen makes a wonderful film. Really" (film review of Blue Jasmine), New Republic, vol. 244, no. 12, p. 562 more examples
They used to call it "Edison's medicine" or, with a touch of gallows humor, a "Georgia Power cocktail" — the practice of hooking mentally troubled patients up to an electrical current and jolting them until they went into convulsions.
2011 March 19, Andrew Zajac, “FDA revisits risks of electric shock treatment”, in Los Angeles Times, retrieved 25 Jan 2014The use of electroshock as mind-erasing punishment was dramatized in the 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and that negative portrayal almost served as a death knell for a practice derided as "Edison's medicine."
2012 May 11, “The rise of electroshock therapy: A guide”, in The Week, retrieved 25 Jan 2014
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
After Thomas Edison (1847–1931), American inventor who pioneered applications of electricity. Chosen for the near-rhyme.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Edison's medicine. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Edison's%20medicine
“Edison's medicine.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Edison's%20medicine. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Edison's medicine,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Edison's%20medicine.
Source: Edison's medicine on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.