menstruum : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: menstruum	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for menstruum
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
menstruum n (archaic) a solvent the monthly discharge of blood from the uterus of nonpregnant women from puberty to menopause; "the women were sickly and subject to excessive menstruation"; "a woman does not take the gout unless her menses be stopped"--Hippocrates; "the semen begins to appear in males and to be emitted at the same time of life that the catamenia begin to flow in females"-- Aristotle Synonym(s): menstruation, menses, menstruum, catamenia, period, flow
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Menstruum \Men"struum\, n.; pl. E. {Menstruums}, L. {Menstrua}. [L. menstruus. See {Menstruous}.] Any substance which dissolves a solid body; a solvent. The proper menstruum* to dissolve metal. --Bacon. All liquors are called menstruums which are used as dissolvents, or to extract the virtues of ingredients by infusion or decoction. --Quincy. Note: The use is supposed to have originated in some notion of the old chemists about the influence of the moon in the preparation of dissolvents. --Johnson.