combining form from Gr. τονικός TONIC, used to form compounds in sense ‘combining a tonic and (some other) quality’: see quot.
1840. Pereira, Mat. Med., II. 1189. In its remote effects myrrh partakes of both the tonic and stimulant characters, and hence some have denominated it a tonico-stimulant; and as its stimulant powers are analogous to those of the balsams, it has also been called a tonico-balsamic.
