minorative

• minoratyve [16th C.]

From the late-Middle French minoratif, minorative (“that diminishes or lessens”, of a medicine “mildly laxative”; as a noun “a mild laxative”), from minorer (“to diminish the importance [of]”). Equivalent to minorate (“diminish”, “lessen”) +‎ -ive. Compare the post-Classical (i.e. 9th C.) Latin minōrātīvus.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmaɪnəɹeɪtɪv/

minorative (not comparable)

1. (obsolete, of a medicine) Gently laxative.
   • 1543, Bartholomew Traheron (translator), Joannes de Vigo (author), The Most Excellent Workes of Chirurgerye, book IX, addendum, page 225:

     Clysters sometymes do supplye the rowme of minoratyve medicines.

   • 1747, Jean Astruc (author; translator unknown), Academical Lectures on Fevers, page 112:

     Nothing but minorative apozems should be ordered.

minorative (plural minoratives)

1. (obsolete) A gently laxative medicine.
   • 1633, James Hart, Κλινική; or, The Diet of the Diseased, book III, chapter xiv, page 284:

     When […] wee feare lest nature faint before perfect concoction, we may sometimes use a gentle minorative.

   • 1747, Jean Astruc (author; translator unknown), Academical Lectures on Fevers, page 232:

     Others give minoratives more frequently.

• NED VI (L–N; 1st ed., 1908), part ii (M–N), § 1 (M), page 478/3, “†Mi·norative, a. and sb.”
• OED (2nd ed., 1989), “†ˈminorative, a. and n.”
• OED (3rd ed., March 2002), “†minorative, adj. and n.”

minorative

1. feminine singular of minoratif

minorative f (plural minoratives)

1. laxative