apothecary

plural apothecaries · alternative obsolete apothecarie · alternative obsolete appothecarie · alternative obsolete apothicarie · alternative obsolete apoticary · alternative Scotland obsolete ypothecar · alternative Scotland obsolete ypothegar · alternative pothecary · alternative potycary · alternative potycarye · alternative poticary · alternative poticarie · alternative pottecary · alternative potticary

1. archaicdatedSynonym of pharmacist: a person who sells medicine, especially (historical) one who made and sold their own medicines in the medieval or early modern eras.

   O true Appothecarie! / Thy drugs are quicke. Thus with a kiſſe I die.

   c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], page 75, column 2

   4 more examples

   [T]he poticaries and barbarus wryters call it [the iris] Irios in the genetiue caſe.

   1562, Wylliam Turner [i.e., William Turner], “Of the Herbe Called in Latin Irio”, in The Second Parte of Guilliam Turners Herball⸝ […], Cologne: […] Arnold Birckman, →OCLC, folio 23, recto

   The girls, though their illness was long and dangerous, recovered under Mrs. Palmer's care, who watched over them as if they had been her own; and from that time an affection, as valuable as it was pleasant, sprang up between them. When Lady Anne returned, she called, and talked about every thing but the apothecary's bill.

   1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter V, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 62

   It amused me to see the bustle and the life in the apothecary's shop across the street.

   1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 2

   [K]nowledge of philtres, aphrodisiacs, and other sexual stimulants spread from the Arabs and the Moors, from Egypt and India into the European herbals, pharmacopeias, and apothecaries’ lore, and, on a more indeterminate level, among alchemists, wizards, and occultists.

   1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 155

   Synonyms: pharmacist

2. archaichistoricalSynonym of pharmacy: an apothecary's shop, a drugstore.

   The Russian people as a whole almost revered the apothecary, and they entered it as they would enter a sanctum.

   1919, S.A., “Pharmacy in Russia”, in Soviet Russia, volume 1, number 27, page 6

   2 more examples

   He was befriended by a local druggist, Jay Miller, who worked at the apothecary at the corner of Sixth and Harrison Street.

   1998, Karen Holliday Tanner, Doc Holliday: A Family Portrait, University of Oklahoma Press, published 2001, →ISBN, pages 205–206

   Seeds found in a 1630s refuse-filled clay borrow pit, located near an apothecary, illustrate colonists intense interest in experimenting with the medicinal qualities of New World plants.

   2001, Audrey Horning, “Archeology and the Science of Discovery”, in Barbara Heath et al., Jamestown Archeological Assessment, U.S. National Parks Service, page 31

   Synonyms: pharmacy

3. uncommonA glass jar of the sort once used for storing medicine.