a. and sb. Chiefly Med. [f. CALM v. + -ATIVE. (The Latinic suffix is here defensible on the ground of the It. and Sp. calmar, F. calmer: but cf. -ATIVE.)]
A. adj. Having a calming effect; sedative.
1871. Napheys, Prev. & Cure Dis., II. v. 569. Cool sponging of the limbs and body is always grateful and calmative in delirium.
1875. H. C. Wood, Therap. (1879), 59. A calmative action on the nervous system.
B. sb. A medical agent that quiets inordinate action of an organ; transf. and fig. anything that has a calming effect.
1870. Pall Mall Gaz., 5 Nov., 4/1. The venerable Professor of Materia Medica tried to prescribe a calmative.
1875. H. Walton, Dis. Eye, 103. The combination of iron with calmatives and sedatives.
1883. Brit. Q. Rev., July, 11/1. There is no more effectual calmative to the irritable nervous system than the healthy fatigue of sustained labour.
