Obs. [L. lōtium, urine.] Stale urine used by barbers as a ‘lye’ for the hair. Also attrib.
1601. B. Jonson, Poetaster, III. i. [To an apothecary.] Thou stinkst of Lotium and the syringe. Ibid. (1609), Sil. Wom., III. ii. Mor. … Let him [sc. ‘that cursed barber’] be glad to eate his sponge, for bread. Trv. And drinke lotium to it.
1608. Middleton, Trick to Catch Old One, IV. iv. To take away the scent of … my barber’s lotium-water.
