Definition of "cataplasm"

cataplasm

noun
plural cataplasms
1. (medicine) A plaster or poultice, spread over one's skin as medical treatment.
  Quotations
  Aretæus prescribes cataplasms of camomile flowers, fennel, aniseeds, cummin, rosemary, wormwood leaves, etc.
  1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, partition II, section 5, member 3, subsection ii
  The Lips of the Abſceſs digeſted vvell, but from vvithin it onely gleeted, and thruſt out Fat, vvhich vve daily cut off vvithout the loſs of a drop of blood, and dreſſed up the Abſceſs vvith mundif. ex apio, continuing the uſe of diſcutient Fomentations and Cataplaſms.
  1676, Richard Wiseman, “The First Book. A Treatise of Tumours. Chapter XVIII. Of an Oedema.”, in Severall Chirurgicall Treatises, London: […] E. Flesher and J. Macock, for R[ichard] Royston […], and B[enjamin] Took, […], page 89
  For medical purposes, figs are chiefly used in emollient cataplasms, and pectorial decoctions.
  1837, Thomas Green Fessenden, James Engelbert Teschemacher, Joseph Breck, The Horticultural Register and Gardener's Magazine, volume 3, page 332