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unguent

noun
/ˈʌŋɡjuənt/

Etymology

From Latin unguentum (“ointment”), from unguō (“to smear with ointment”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃engʷ- (“to salve, anoint”). Cognates include Old Prussian anctan, Old High German ancho (German Anke (“butter”)), Welsh ymenyn (“butter”).

  1. derived from *h₃engʷ-✻
  2. borrowed from unguentum

Definitions

  1. Any cream containing medicinal ingredients applied to the skin for therapeutic purposes.

    • "Alas!" said Syntax, "could I pop / Just now, upon a blacksmith's shop, / Whose cooling unguents would avail / To save poor Grizzle's ears and tail!"
    • So she put a golden box into his hand, and directed him how to apply the perfumed unguent which it contained, and where to meet her at midnight.
    • Thou knowest of old that my temper is somewhat choleric, and my tongue not greased with that unguent which oils the mouths of the lip-serving lords of the land.

  2. Taking the form of a cream or ointment.

    • In vials of ivory and coloured glass / Unstoppered, lurked her strange synthetic perfumes, / Unguent, powdered, or liquid— […]

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for unguent. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA