gallipot

plural gallipots · alternative galleypot · alternative gallypot

1. A small, glazed earthenware jar once used by apothecaries for holding medicine and ointment.

   VVhy, by his skill, / Of vvhich he has left you the inheritance, / Here in a pot: this little gally pot, / Of tincture, high roſe tincture.

   1625 January 19 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), [Ben Jonson], The Fortunate Isles and Their Union. […], [London: s.n.], published [1625], →OCLC, signature [A4], verso

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   Take a Sheet of Lead, and have a piece of Lead made like a Slickſtone; then betvveen them tvvo grind vvhite Lead and Sallet-Oil till 'tis very fine, put it in a Gallipot for uſe.

   1729, E[liza] S[mith], “Medicines and Salves. [Another for the Same [Piles]]”, in The Compleat Housewife: Or, Accomplished Gentlewoman’s Companion: […], 3rd edition, London: […] J[ohn] Pemberton, […], →OCLC, page 286

   Here gallypots and vials placed, / Some filled with washes, some with paste, / Some with pomatum, paints and slops, / And ointments good for scabby chops.

   1732, Jonathan Swift, The Lady's Dressing Room

   Cut away all the hard part of your Asparagus, and just boil them up with Butter and Salt, then fling them into cold Water, and presently take them out again and let them drain; when they are cold, put them in a Gallipot, large enough for them to lie without bending […]

   1736, Richard Bradley, The Country Housewife and Lady's Director, 6th edition, London: D. Brown, page 68

   The walls and ceiling were blackened with flies. Mrs Bangham, expert in sudden device, with one hand fanned the patient with a cabbage leaf, and with the other set traps of vinegar and sugar in gallipots; at the same time enunciating sentiments of an encouraging and congratulatory nature, adapted to the occasion.

   1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, chapter VI, in Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, →OCLC

   Then we swept up the litter from the floor, threw down fresh sawdust, and swallowed gallipots of wine or coffee or water—anything, so long as it was wet.

   1933 January 9, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter XI, in Down and Out in Paris and London, London: Victor Gollancz […], →OCLC

2. archaicSomeone who uses such pots; an apothecary.

   ‘We are physicians' gallipots. Don't you want the sick healed?’

   1980, Gene Wolfe, chapter I, in The Shadow of the Torturer (The Book of the New Sun; 1), New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 11