drug
/drʌɡ
/noun
1A medicine or other substance which has a physiological effect when ingested or otherwise introduced into the body: a new drug aimed at sufferers from Parkinson’s disease...
- The retailing of antibiotics, anti-virus drugs and herbal medicines capable of reducing heat skyrocketed.
- Lower doses of the drug result in analgesic effects, while increasing doses will produce amnesic effects.
- Antidepressant and sedative drugs gave troublesome side effects and only temporary relief.
Synonyms
medicine, medical drug, medication, medicament;
remedy, cure, antidote;
cure-all, panacea;
nostrum;
potion, elixir
informal magic bullet
archaic physic
1.1A substance taken for its narcotic or stimulant effects, often illegally: a cocaine-based drug figurative mass adoration is a highly addictive drug...
- The use of illegal drugs like marijuana, cocaine and heroin has increased exponentially, most dramatically among the young.
- It is grown to produce the narcotic drugs hashish and marijuana, made primarily from its female flowers.
- Crack cocaine is a potent hard crystalline form of cocaine, the addictive drug derived from the coca plant and used as a stimulant.
Synonyms
narcotic, stimulant, hallucinogen, addictive drug, recreational drug, illegal drug, substance
informal dope, junk, gear, stuff, downer, upper
vulgar slang shit
verb (drugs, drugging, drugged) [with object]
1Administer a drug to (someone) in order to induce stupor or insensibility: they were drugged to keep them quiet...
- Would this be the same doctor that keeps drugging me?
- She was obviously drugged still from the poison.
- Perhaps the best acting (or overacting as the case may be) came from Henry Silva, who played a truly evil villain, one who enjoys his torture and drugging people.
Synonyms
anaesthetize, give an anaesthetic to, narcotize, give drugs to, give narcotics to, give opiates to, poison;
knock out, make/render unconscious, make/render insensible, stupefy, befuddle
informal dope
add drugs to, tamper with, adulterate, contaminate, poison
informal dope, spike, lace, slip a Mickey Finn into, doctor
stupefied, insensible, befuddled;
delirious, hallucinating, narcotized;
anaesthetized, knocked out, comatose
informal stoned, high, doped, dopey, on a trip, tripping, spaced out, zonked, wasted, wrecked, high as a kite, off one's head, out of one's mind, flying, turned on, hyped up, freaked out, charged up
British informal loved-up
North American informal blitzed
1.1Add a drug to (food or drink).He is accused of killing more than 20 young Western backpackers across Asia, usually by drugging their food or drink, in the 1970s and 1980s....
- Stephanie drugs Ellie's drink and leaves her vulnerable with a group of men
- Repeatedly drugging his food and disregarding any positive assertion from his new ‘neighbour,’ Shawn meets his demise when his gun prevents Victor even from committing suicide.
1.2 [no object] informal Take illegally obtained drugs: she was convinced he was out drinking and drugging...
- The action opens with Vince drinking and drugging his way through an evening in a drab Michigan motel room.
- She was convinced he was out drinking and drugging it up, trying to lure her son into a life of crime.
Phrases
do drugs
on drugs
Origin
Middle English: from Old French drogue, possibly from Middle Dutch droge vate, literally 'dry vats', referring to the contents (i.e. dry goods).