tonic

comparative more tonic · superlative most tonic · alternative obsolete tonick

1. medicinePertaining to tension, especially of the muscles.

   Out in front and across the street, Doc noted half a dozen or so young men, not loitering or doing substances but poised and tonic, as if waiting for some standing order to take effect.

   2009, Thomas Pynchon, Inherent Vice, Vintage, published 2010, page 316

2. Restorative; curative; or invigorating.

   The arrival of the new members had a tonic effect on the team.

3. medicineIn a state of continuous unremitting action.

   Peter Redgrave (2007) Basal ganglia. Scholarpedia, 2(6):1825. GABAergic neurones in the basal ganglia output nuclei have high tonic firing rates (40-80 Hz).

plural tonics · alternative obsolete tonick

1. uncountableusuallyA substance with medicinal properties intended to restore or invigorate.

   We used to brew a tonic from a particular kind of root.

2. uncountableusuallyTonic water.
3. BostonUSdateduncountableusuallyAny of various carbonated, non-alcoholic beverages; soda pop.
4. figurativelyuncountableusuallySomeone or something that revitalises or reinvigorates.

   'You're a tonic, Dee,' she said. 'And a real friend. Thanks.'

   2011, Cathy Kelly, She's the One

   2 more examples

   Charlie ain't no Nazi / She likes to wear her leather boots / 'Cause it's exciting for the veterans / And it's a tonic for the troops.

   1978, “She's So Modern”, performed by The Boomtown Rats

   The result is the perfect tonic for Newcastle, coming at the end of a week that saw the departure of Andy Carroll to Liverpool on Monday and an injury to Shola Ameobi during Wednesday's defeat at Fulham.

   2011 February 5, Paul Fletcher, “Newcastle 4 - 4 Arsenal”, in BBC

present singular third person tonics · participle present tonicking · participle past tonicked · past tonicked · alternative obsolete tonick

1. archaicmedicineTo restore or invigorate.

   When all signs of effusion, dulness, pain, œgophony, and cough had disappeared he was dieted, stimulated, and tonicked.

   1887, Medical Press and Circular, volume 94, page 461

   1 more example

   The Persians, as a nation, were first to discover that fish were edible. The time is fixed at about 3000 B.C. This was their secret for some centuries—until the Assyrians learned about the elegance of fish for tonicking the brain.

   1939, Frank Grant Menke, Encyclopedia of Sports, page 17

alternative obsolete tonick

1. not comparableentertainmentPertaining to or based upon the first note of a diatonic scale.
2. not comparablePertaining to the accent or stress in a word or in speech.
3. not comparableOf or relating to tones or sounds; specifically (phonetics, dated) being or relating to a speech sound made with tone unmixed and undimmed by obstruction, i.e. a vowel or diphthong.

plural tonics · alternative obsolete tonick

1. entertainmentThe first note of a diatonic scale; the keynote.
2. entertainmentThe triad built on the tonic note.
3. human sciencesA tonic element or letter; a vowel or a diphthong.