Definition of "laxative"

Bolvs in Engliſh is called a morſell. It is a medicine laxatiue, in forme and faſhion it is meanely whole, and it is ſwallowed by little gobbets.

1624, Philip Barrough [i.e., Philip Barrow], “Of Making Bolus”, in The Method of Physick, Contaning[sic] the Cavses, Signes, and Cvres of Inward Diseases in Mans Body, from the Head to the Foote. Whereunto is Added, The Forme and Rule of Making Remedies and Medicines, which Our Physitions Commonly Vse at this Day, with the Proportion, Quantity, and Names of Each Medicine, 6th edition, book VII, London: Imprinted by Richard Field, dwelling in great Woodstreete, page 397

According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, the US is having a love affair with laxatives; Americans of all ages are ingesting so much of the stuff that there are now shortages nationwide.

2023 September 12, Arwa Mahdawi, “The US has such a love affair with laxatives that there is now a national shortage. This is not normal”, in The Guardian‎