dover's powder Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a medicinal powder made essentially of ipecac and opium; formerly used to relieve pain and induce perspiration

WordNet

Do"ver's Pow"der
Etymology
From Dr. Dover, an English physician.
Definitions
  1. (Med.) A powder of ipecac and opium, compounded, in the United States, with sugar of milk, but in England (as formerly in the United States) with sulphate of potash, and in France (as in Dr. Dover's original prescription) with nitrate and sulphate of potash and licorice. It is an anodyne diaphoretic.

Webster 1913