talk like an apothecary

present singular third person talks like an apothecary · participle present talking like an apothecary · participle past talked like an apothecary · past talked like an apothecary

1. archaicidiomaticintransitiveslangTo prattle.

   As to Clement of Alexandria, I shall pass him by, as he knew nothing about the matter. He talks like an apothecary on the subject; and when did ever an apothecary talk to any purpose?

   1824, Naso., Sneezing, in The New Monthly Magazine, volume X, page 152

   1 more example

   "And you have so little of the former left," said the old woman, as she presented him with a plate of the aliment and a glass of the menstruum, "that without we have a fresh supply, I foresee that you will be reduced to live upon your own medicines." "You do not talk like an apothecary," said Nadir, "if you expect that I could exist upon them in the way you suggest."

   July, 1807, Omar and Fatima; or, the Apothecary of Ispahan, published in the Literary Magazine and American Register, volume VIII, number 46, page 6