Emily Dickinson Lexicon

MED'I-CINE, n. [L. medicina, from medeor, to cure; vulgarly and improperly pronounced med'sn.]

1. Any substance, liquid or solid, that has the property of curing or mitigating disease in animals, or that is used for that purpose. Simples, plants and minerals furnish most of our medicines. Even poisons used with judgment and in moderation, are safe and efficacious medicines. Medicines are internal or external, simple or compound.
2. The art of preventing, curing, or alleviating the diseases of the human body. Hence we say, the study of medicine or a student of medicine.
3. In the French sense, a physician. [Not in use.] Shak.