- medicine
- early 13c., from L. medicina, originally ars medicina "the medical art," from fem. of medicinus (adj.) "of a doctor," from medicus "a physician" (see medical). To take (one's) medicine "submit to something disagreeable" is first recorded 1865. N.Amer. Indian medicine-man "shaman" is first attested 1801, from Amer. Indian adoption of the word in sense of "magical influence." The U.S.-Canadian boundary they called Medicine Line (first attested 1910), because it conferred a kind of magic protection: punishment for crimes committed on one side of it could be avoided by crossing over to the other. Medicine show "traveling show meant to attract a crowd so patent medicine can be sold to them" is Amer.Eng., 1938. Medicine ball "stuffed leather ball used for exercise" is from 1895.