[(? a. Fr. antidote,) ad. L. antidotum, a. Gr. ἀντίδοτον a remedy, prop. neut. sing. of ἀντί-δοτος given against. In 16–17th c. often used in Gr. or L. form, with pl. -a.]
1. A medicine given to counteract the influence of poison, or an attack of disease.
1543. Traheron, Vigo’s Chirurg. (1586), 431. Antidota, are medicines to be received within the bodie … some are geven against poison, some against the stinging of venemous beasts.
1598. B. Jonson, Ev. Man in Hum., III. v. 64. An antidote, that had you taken the most deadly poysonous plant … it should expell it.
1604. James I., Counterbl. (Arb.), 101. The loathsome, and hurtfull vse of this stinking Antidote.
1633. G. Herbert, Provid., xxii. in Temple, 112. Where are poysons, antidots are most.
1875. H. Wood, Therap. (1879), 45. [To] sulphate of copper … milk and eggs … are the most efficient antidotes.
b. Const. against, for, to.
1515. in Froude, Hist. Eng., II. viii. 241. Some say … that to find the antidotum for this disease is impossible.
1593. Nashe, Chr. Teares, 87. Him … that takes any antidote against it [the Plague].
1653. Walton, Angler, 145. A natural Balsome or Antidote against all Poison.
1752. Hume, Polit. Disc., ii. 38. One poison may be an antidote to another.
1779. Sheridan, St. Patrick’s Day, II. iv. He has antidotes for all poisons.
1843. Mill, Logic, III. ix. § 1. Such examples are afforded by antidotes to these poisons.
2. fig. Const. as in prec.
1548. Veron (title), An Holsom Antidotus or counterpoysen agaynst the pestilent heresye and sect of Anabaptistes.
1635. Quarles, Emblems, V. (1718), 333. To lend My wasting day, an antidote for night!
1656. Bramhall, Replic., ii. 87. Adjuments of unity, and antidotes against Schism.
1656. H. More (title), Antidote against Atheisme.
1768. Goldsm., Good-n. Man, I. i. His very mirth is an antidote to all gaiety.
1810. Coleridge, Friend (1865), 118. The whole truth is the best antidote to falsehoods which are dangerous chiefly because they are half-truths.
1878. Seeley, Stein, III. 433. To regard Reform as the best antidote against Revolution.
