drug
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /dɹʌɡ/
ipa: [d̠͡ɹ̠˔ʷʌɡ]
rhymes: -ʌɡ
Forms: form: drugs
Etymology: From Middle English drogge (“medicine”), from Middle French drogue, drocque (“tincture, pharmaceutical product”) (c. 1462), from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German droge, as in droge vate (“dry vats, dry barrels”), mistaking droge for the contents, which were usually dried herbs, plants or wares. Droge comes from Middle Dutch drōghe (“dry”), from Old Dutch drōgi (“dry”), from Proto-Germanic *draugiz (“dry, hard”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewgʰ- (“to strengthen; become hard or solid”), from *dʰer- (“to hold, hold fast, support”). Cognate with English dry, Dutch droog (“dry”), German trocken (“dry”).
Senses: examples: text: Aspirin is a drug that reduces pain, acts against inflammation and lowers body temperature.
text: The revenues from both brand-name drugs and generic drugs have increased.
text: whence merchants bring their spicy drugs
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
text: In the future, he says, a focus on the hate circuit may open new avenues for treatment – including new drugs and psychotherapies – that target this and other specific circuits in the brain.
ref: 2011 October 4, Amanda MacMillan, “Depressed brains may hate differently”, in CNN:
topics: medicine
pharmacology
sciences
synonyms: word: pharmaceutical
word: drug
word: medication
word: medicine
word: medicament
word: pharmaceutical drug
glosses: A substance used to treat an illness, relieve a symptom, or modify a chemical process in the body for a specific purpose.
examples: text: We took drugs and partied all night.
text: They're on drugs.
text: She used to be a drug addict.
text: We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.
ref: 1971, Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Harper Perennial, published 2005, page 3:
text: You have a twelve-year-old kid being told from the time he's like five years old that all drugs are bad, they're going to screw you up, don't try them. Just say no. Then they try pot.
ref: 1991 March 23, unknown student, “Antihero opinion”, in SPIN, page 70:
text: The only thing working against the poor Drug Abuse Resistance Officer is high-school students. ... He'd offer his simple lesson: Drugs are bad, people who use drugs are bad, and abstinence is the only answer.
ref: 2005, Thomas Brent Andrews, The Pot Plan: Louie B. Stumblin and the War on Drugs, Chronic Discontent Books, →ISBN, page 19:
text: Cannabis use disorder is usually defined as a problematic use of the drug: developing tolerance to weed; using cannabis in larger amounts or over a longer period than intended; being unable to reduce use; spending a lot of time obtaining, using or recovering from the effects of cannabis; giving up important activities and obligations in favor of cannabis; and continued use of the drug despite negative consequences.
ref: 2021 July 22, Katie Hunt, “Schizophrenia linked to marijuana use disorder is on the rise, study finds”, in CNN:
synonyms: word: recreational drug
word: drug
word: dope
word: gear
word: horse
word: stuff
word: substance
glosses: A psychoactive substance, especially one which is illegal and addictive, ingested for recreational use, such as cocaine.
examples: text: Oh, get that buzz / Love is the drug / I'm thinking of
ref: 1975, Bryan Ferry, Andy Mackay, “Love Is the Drug”, in Siren, performed by Roxy Music:
text: Inspiration is my drug. Such things as spirituality, booze, travel, psychedelics, contemplation, music, dance, laughter, wilderness, and ribaldry — these have simply been the different forms of the drug of inspiration for which I have had great need […]
ref: 2005, Jack Haas, Om, Baby!: a Pilgrimage to the Eternal Self, page 8:
text: Fear was my drug of choice. I thrived on scary movies, ghost stories and rollercoasters. I dreamed of playing the last girl left alive in a slasher film — the one who screams herself hoarse as she discovers her friends' bodies one by one.
ref: 2009, Niki Flynn, Dances with Werewolves, page 8:
text: Because your love, your love, your love is my drug
ref: 2010, Ke$ha, Pebe Sebert, Joshua Coleman (Ammo), “Your Love is My Drug”, performed by Ke$ha:
text: The truth is...eating is my drug. When I am upset, I eat...when I am sad, I eat...when I am happy, I eat.
ref: 2011, Joslyn Shy, Introducing the Truth, page 5:
glosses: Anything, such as a substance, emotion, or action, to which one is addicted.
examples: text: And virtue shall a drug become.
ref: 1685, John Dryden, Albion and Albanius, published 1691:
text: […] Sermons are mere Drugs. The Trade is ſo vaſtly ſtocked vvith them, that really unleſs they come out vvith the Name of VVhitfield [i.e, George Whitefield] or VVeſtley [John Wesley], or ſome other ſuch great Man, as a Biſhop, or thoſe ſort of People, I don't care to touch, […]
ref: 1742, Henry Fielding, “A Pleasant Discourse between the Two Parsons and the Bookseller, […]”, in The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews, and of His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams. […], volume I, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book I, page 117:
glosses: Any commodity that lies on hand, or is not salable; an article of slow sale, or in no demand.
examples: text: “I’ll go this far,” I answered him. “We’ll try going over to the drug. You, me, Ollie if he wants to go, one or two others. Then we’ll talk it over again.”
ref: 1980, Stephen King, The Mist, Viking Press:
glosses: Ellipsis of drugstore.
Derived terms: sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: antidrug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: bedrug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: blockbuster drug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: club drug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: codrug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: combination drug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: controlled drug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: counterdrug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: date rape drug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: designer drug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: dissociative drug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: do drugs
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drugability
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug abuse
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug abuser
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug addict
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug addiction
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug-addled
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug baron
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug bust
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drugbuster
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug cartel
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug challenge
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug deal
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug dealer
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug-dealer
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug den
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug dog
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug driving
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drugeteria
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug fiend
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug-fiend
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug-free
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drugfree
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drugger
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: druggery
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: druggie
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: druggist
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: druggo
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: druggy
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drughead
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug holiday
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug house
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug in the market
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug joint
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug lab
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drugless
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: druglike
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: druglord
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug lord
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: druglore
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drugmaker
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug mule
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug naïve
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug-naïve
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug naive
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug-naive
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug of choice
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug of last resort
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drugola
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drugome
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug on the market
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug problem
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drugproof
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug pusher
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug-ridden
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug ring
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug rug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug run
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug runner
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug running
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drugshop
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drugsploitation
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drugster
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drugstore
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug store
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drugtaker
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drugtaking
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug test
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug trafficker
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug trafficking
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug use
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug user
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug withdrawal
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: drug wormseed
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: fertility drug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: gateway drug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: hard drug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: lifestyle drug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: look what the cat drug in
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: love drug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: metallodrug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: miracle drug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: multidrug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: nanodrug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: nondrug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: orphan drug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: parent drug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: phytodrug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: polydrug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: polydrugs
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: postdrug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: predrug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: prescription drug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: prodrug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: recreational drug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: sex drug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: small molecule drug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: smart drug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: soft drug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: street drug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: sulfa drug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: truth drug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: wonderdrug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: wonder drug
sense: terms derived from drug (noun)
word: Z-drug