a. and sb. Also 6 -yfe. [ad. mod.L. suppūrātīvus, f. suppūrāt-: see SUPPURATE v. and -IVE. Cf. F. suppuratif (from 16th c.), It., Pg. suppurativo, Sp. supurativo.] A. adj.
1. Having the property of causing suppuration; inducing the formation of pus.
1541. [see SUPPURATION 1].
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 705. It is meet to vse a suppuratiue and not a gluttinatiue maner of cure.
c. 1720. W. Gibson, Farrier’s Dispens., i. (1734), 23. Rye…. It’s chief Service is in suppurative and discutient Charges or Cataplasms.
1760–72. J. Adams, trans. Juan & Ulloa’s Voy. (ed. 3), I. 46. A small suppurative plaister.
1822–7. Good, Study Med. (1829), IV. 404. Those irritant, exulcerant, or suppurative applications, which have been employed by many practitioners.
2. Attended or characterized by suppuration.
1794. J. R. Coxe, Ess. Inflamm., 51. Mr. John Hunter has divided inflammation into the adhesive, the suppurative, and the ulcerative.
1835–6. Todd’s Cycl. Anat., I. 61/2. This suppurative sloughing process had opened a passage … into the … colon.
1879. St. George’s Hosp. Rep., IX. 621. Suppurative catarrh of the middle ear.
B. sb. A medicine or preparation that promotes suppuration.
1568. Skeyne, The Pest (1860), 40. Gif the humore be malignant,… suppuratiues most be expède [sic].
1671. Salmon, Syn. Med., III. xvi. 368. Suppuratives … bring blood, raw, superfluous and undigested humours to matter and ripeness.
1766. Phil. Trans., LVI. 93. Strong suppuratives, in the form of cataplasms, were now used.
1822–7. Good, Study Med. (1829), III. 508. Increasing the tone of the vessels, by warm suppuratives and astringents.
1887. Moloney, Forestry W. Afr., 292. Fagonia arabica,… this plant has a great reputation in India as a suppurative in the cases of abscess.
