eyedrop
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From eye + drop. Compare West Frisian eachdrip (“tear”, literally “eyedrop”), Dutch oogdrup (“tear”, literally “eyedrop”). Compare also German Augentropfen (“eyedrops”).
Noun
eyedrop (plural eyedrops)
- (medicine) Medicine to be administered to the eyes in the form of a drop of liquid.
- Hypernyms: drop; medicine, medication, drug
- (poetic) A tear.
- c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v], line 88:
- My lord, I found the prince in the next room, / Washing with kindly tears his gentle cheeks, / With such a deep demeanour in great sorrow / That tyranny, which never quaff'd but blood, / Would, by beholding him, have wash'd his knife / With gentle eye-drops. He is coming hither.
Related terms
Translations
eye medicine
|