The action of increasing, enlarging, or intensifying. Obsolete.

A relaxant drug, treatment, etc. Cf. muscle relaxant, n.

Surgery. Separation of parts normally united, as by a wound or burn, the lancing of an abscess, etc.

The action or result of blister, v.

A method of treatment for rheumatic diseases advocated by Elisha Perkins, in which two small pointed rods, one of steel and one of brass, called…

the use of metallic tractors (see 1): also allusively.

= tractoration n.

The therapeutic practice of burning moxa or another substance on or next to the skin.

A drawing or pulling movement used in massage, etc.: in quot. 1841 applied to the use of metallic tractors (see tractor, n. 1).

Medicine. The application of a remedy; medical treatment of a disease or condition. Now rare.

= moxibustion, n.

(a) a support for a person in bed; (b) confinement of a sick person to bed.

= aerotherapy n.

treatment of disease by altering the composition or pressure of the air that the patient breathes; esp. the climatotherapy of tuberculosis.

The use of metals to treat disease (esp. conversion disorders).

A blocking up. Neurology. Obstruction of the passage of a nervous or muscular impulse; an instance of this. Cf. block, v. 4b and heart-block (heart…

irritation artificially produced in order to counteract the action of disease.

Treatment of disease by introducing bacteria into the system.

A form of physiotherapy using mechanical equipment to manipulate parts of the body, along with other exercises, massage, etc.

Surgery and Medicine. The action of making a fixed or stiff structure movable; spec. surgical detachment from adjacent structures.

(See quot. 1901.)

The process or method of treating with bacteria.

treatment designed to correct a deficiency of a substance normally or habitually present in the body (hormone, clotting factor, drug, etc.)…

Treatment of disease using substances of biological origin (antisera, tissue extracts, etc.) or (later) living organisms. Cf. biosurgery, n.

the use of activities or equipment involved in daily living, work, and recreation to assist recovery from illness, injury, or disability and to…

(a) (more fully foreign protein therapy) protein shock therapy (now historical); (b) treatment with a protein-rich diet; (c) treatment of disease…

remedial treatment of the mind and body.

a project or scheme intended to recover something or to bring about a recovery; spec. (a) originally U.S. a programme of treatment, counselling…

The introduction of plombe, especially into the pleural cavity; treatment with plombe; an instance of this.

Inhibition of the growth of bacteria without destroying them.

Treatment with or exposure to oestrogen; the result of this.

The administering of nutrients to patients incapable of normal digestion, usually by intravenous feeding (frequently known as parenteral hyperaliment…

The action or fact of rendering a person docile or passive by impairing his or her intellectual function. Cf. vegetablize, v. 2b. Now rare.

the control and regulation of pain, esp. by means of medication.

care for the terminally ill and their families, esp. that provided by an organized health service.

the introduction of a new, functional gene into an organism in order to treat an inherited disorder or other disease; an instance of this.