Adjacent Words

Menstruum definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

MEN'STRUUM, n. plu. menstruums. [from L. mensis, month. The use of this word is supposed to have originated in some notion of the old chimists, about the influence of the moon in the preparation of dissolvents. Johnson.]
A dissolvent or solvent; any fluid or subtilized substance which dissolves a solid body.
All liquors are called menstruums which are used as dissolvents, or to extract the virtues of ingredients by infusion or decoction.
Inquire what is the proper menstruum to dissolve a metal.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: (archaic) a solvent
2: the monthly discharge of blood from the uterus of nonpregnant women from puberty to menopause; "the women were sickly and subject to excessive menstruation"; "a woman does not take the gout unless her menses be stopped"--Hippocrates; "the semen begins to appear in males and to be emitted at the same time of life that the catamenia begin to flow in females"-- Aristotle [syn: menstruation, menses, menstruum, catamenia, period, flow]

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural -struums or menstrua) Etymology: Medieval Latin, literally, menses, alteration of Latin menstrua Date: 1559 a substance that dissolves a solid or holds it in suspension ; solvent

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. menstrua) a solvent. Etymology: ME f. L, neut. of menstruus monthly f. mensis month f. the alchemical parallel between transmutation into gold and the supposed action of menses on the ovum

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Menstruum Men"stru*um, n.; pl. E. Menstruums, L. Menstrua. [L. menstruus. See Menstruous.] Any substance which dissolves a solid body; a solvent. The proper menstruum to dissolve metal. --Bacon. All liquors are called menstruums which are used as dissolvents, or to extract the virtues of ingredients by infusion or decoction. --Quincy. Note: The use is supposed to have originated in some notion of the old chemists about the influence of the moon in the preparation of dissolvents. --Johnson.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Solvent, medium.