Meanings
- UKarchaicuncountableVinegar mixed with camphor and essential oils, formerly used as medicine.
Synonyms: four thieves' oil, Marseilles vinegar, prophylactic vinegar, thieves' oil, thieves' vinegar, vinegar of the four thieves
Synonyms & antonyms
nounVinegar mixed with camphor and essential oils, formerly used as medicine.
Origin
From the story that thieves, by using it, were enabled to plunder, with impunity to health, in the great plague at London. Possibly originally a corruption of "Forthave's vinegar", Richard Forthave being the publisher of an early recipe.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
four thieves' vinegar. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/four%20thieves'%20vinegar
“four thieves' vinegar.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/four%20thieves'%20vinegar. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “four thieves' vinegar,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/four%20thieves'%20vinegar.
Source: four thieves' vinegar on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.