Definition of "medicament"

Therefore of death and burials, of th’aduersities by warres, and of true loue lost or ill bestowed, are th’onely sorrowes that the noble Poets sought by their arte to remoue or appease, not with any medicament of a contrary temper, as the Galenistes vse to cure [contraria contrarijs] but as the Paracelsians, who cure [similia similibus] making one dolour to expell another, and in this case, one short sorrowing the remedie of a long and grieuous sorrow.

1589, George Puttenham, The Arte of English Poesie, Book I, Chapter 23, “The forme of Poeticall lamentations,”

Forasmuch as the soul is far more precious than the body, we do prohibit under the pain of anathema, that no physician for the health of the body, shall prescribe to a sick person any thing which may prove perilous to the soul. But when it happens that he is called to a sick person, he shall first of all effectually persuade them to send for the physicians of the soul; that after the sick person hath taken care for his spiritual medicament, he may with better effect proceed to the cure of his body.

1760, Richard Burn, “Physicians”, in Ecclesiastical Law‎, 6th edition, volume III, London, published 1797, page 88

The Saracens gave an entirely new face to pharmacy and chemistry. They introduced a great variety of salutary medicaments into Europe.

1837, William H. Prescott, chapter 8, in History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic‎, volume 1

The musty smell of old thatch was mingled with the smell of Mrs Tulsi’s medicaments: bay rum, soft candles, Canadian Healing Oil, ammonia.

1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, Vintage International, published 2001, Part One, Chapter 4

Before any drug or medicament is loosed upon the public, it is essential for its toxicity to be tested. That testing involves animals, but not necessarily in the way that LD50 previously worked.

1986 February 17, Maurice Miller, Hansard‎, archived from the original on 12 February 2019