01 n. A medicine, the ingredients of which are kept secret for the purpose of restricting the profits of sale to the inventor or proprietor; a qu…
pl.
Nostrums ((-trŭmz))
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1.
A medicine, the ingredients of which are kept secret for the purpose of restricting the profits of sale to the inventor or proprietor; a quack medicine.
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2.
Any scheme or device proposed by a quack.“The incentives of agitators, the arts of impostors and the nostrums of quacks.” — Brougham.
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3.
Any scheme asserted to solve a problem, but with no objective basis for belief in its effectiveness; esp., in politics, a scheme or proposal likely to prove popular with voters.