mithridate

noun

1. (countable, historical, uncountable)Any of various historical medicines, typically an electuary compounded with various poison, believed to derive from Mithridates VI and to serve as a universal antidote.

   “Auicen saythe; There be certeyne medicins... which wyl not suffre poyson to approche nere the harte, as triacle and Metridate.”

   “After I had thus evacuated the Plethora, and diſpoſed her body for Mercurialls more operative, I gave her each morning and evening a few grains of Mercur. diaphoret. in a bolus with conſ. lujule and Mithridate [...]”

   “Fools may talk of Mythridate, Cordials, Elixers...”

   “What he wanted, in effect, was a universal antidote, which medical science has for years referred to as a mithridate.”

2. (archaic, broadly, countable, figuratively, historical, uncountable)Any of various historical medicines, typically an electuary compounded with various poison, believed to derive from Mithridates VI and to serve as a universal antidote.

   “The contemplation was a mithridate to a pestered conceipted minde.”

   “That which maketh me most both to sorrow and wonder, is that musick (a methridat for melancholy) should make him mad.”

3. (abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, obsolete, rare, uncountable)Ellipsis of mithridate mustard.