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n. 1. A sweetened aromatic solution of alcohol and water, serving as a vehicle for medicine. 2. a. See philosophers' stone. b. A substance believed to maintain life indefinitely. Also called elixir of life. c. A substance or medicine believed to have the power to cure all ills. 3. An underlying principle. [Middle English, a substance of transmutative properties, from Old French elissir, from Medieval Latin elixir, from Arabic al-'iksīr : al, the + 'iksīr, elixir (probably from Greek xērion, desiccative powder, from xēros, dry).] |
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