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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
It's not what you think it is, not a double entendre. "But Ikey was timid, and his hopes remained insoluble in the menstruum of his backwardness and fears. "
MENSTRUUM Webster's 1913 Dictionary Definition: \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.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
AHD's etymology puzzles me, in view of Webster 1913 giving no mention of relation to endocrine fluctuation.
menstruum SYLLABICATION: men·stru·um PRONUNCIATION: mnstr-m NOUN: Inflected forms: pl. men·stru·ums or men·stru·a (-str-) A solvent, especially one used in extracting compounds from plant and animal tissues and preparing drugs. ETYMOLOGY: Middle English, menstruation, from Medieval Latin mnstruum, sing. of Latin mnstrua, menses. See menstruate.
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