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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Decoction

Decoction \De*coc"tion\, n. [F. d['e]coction, L. decoctio.]

  1. The act or process of boiling anything in a watery fluid to extract its virtues.

    In decoction . . . it either purgeth at the top or settleth at the bottom.
    --Bacon.

  2. An extract got from a body by boiling it in water.

    If the plant be boiled in water, the strained liquor is called the decoction of the plant.
    --Arbuthnot.

    In pharmacy decoction is opposed to infusion, where there is merely steeping.
    --Latham.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
decoction

late 14c., from French décoction (13c.) or directly from Latin decoctionem (nominative decoctio) "a boiling down," noun of action from past participle stem of decoquere "to boil down," from de- "down" (see de-) + coquere "to cook" (see cook (n.)).

Wiktionary
decoction

n. An extraction or essence of something, obtained by boiling it down.

WordNet
decoction

n. (pharmacology) the extraction by boiling of water-soluble drug substances

Wikipedia
Decoction

Decoction is a method of extraction by boiling of dissolved chemicals from herbal or plant material, which may include stems, roots, bark and rhizomes. Decoction involves first mashing and then boiling in water to extract oils, volatile organic compounds and other chemical substances. Decoction can be used to make herbal teas, teas, coffees, tinctures and similar solutions. Decoctions and infusions may produce liquids with differing chemical properties as the temperature/preparation difference may result in more oil-soluble chemicals in decoctions versus infusions. The process can also be applied to meats and vegetables to prepare bouillon or stock.

A decoction is also the name for the resulting liquid. Although this method of extraction differs from infusion and percolation, the resultant liquids are often functionally similar.

Usage examples of "decoction".

Hakea flower totem in the Arunta tribe, as to which it may be premised that a decoction of the Hakea flower is a favourite drink of the natives.

Likewise, this decoction, in common with an extract of the herb, has been given curatively for intermittent fever and ague, as well as for some depressed, and disordered states of the nervous system.

After this it is necessary to rinse the mouth by using by preference a vinous decoction of sage, or one of cinnamon, mastich, gallia, moschata, cubeb, juniper seeds, root of cyperus, and rosemary leaves.

Jiondor, Risalyn spent the night with the sick in Pointhill, and her draughts and decoctions have worked wonders.

Infusions and decoctions of these will often be advised on account of the fact that they are more available than the tinctures, fluid extracts, and concentrated principles, which we prefer, and almost invariably employ in our practice.

In old times the Water figwort was famous as a vulnerary, both when used externally, and when taken in decoction.

I have it in musk, civet, amber, Phoenicobalanus, the decoction of turmerick, sesana, nard, spikenard, calamus odoratus, stacte, opobalsamum, amomum, storax, ladanum, aspalathum, opoponax, oenanthe.

A decoction of Marsh Mallow is made by adding five pints of water to a quarter-of-a-pound of the dried root, then boiling down to three pints, and straining through calico.

Oatmeal gruel may be made by boiling from one to two ounces of the meal with three pints of water down to two pints, then straining the decoction, and pouring off the supernatant liquid when cool.

A strong decoction of the root and leaves, sweetened with honey, has been taken successfully to cure scrofulous sores, being administered two or three times a day in doses of a wineglassful persistently for several months.

We have seen that a decoction of cabbageleaves excites the most powerful inflection.

Utricularia nelumbifolia, 442 Gelatin, impure, action on Drosera, 80 , pure, its digestion by Drosera, 110 Genlisea africana, 451 filiformis, 451 Genlisea ornata, structure of, 446 , manner of capturing prey, 450 Glandular hairs, absorption by, 344 , summary on, 353 Globulin, its digestion by Drosera, 120 Gluten, its digestion by Drosera, 117 Glycerine, inducing aggregation in Drosera, 52 , action on Drosera, 212 Gold chloride, action on Drosera, 184 GorupBesanez on the presence of a solvent in seeds of the vetch, 362 Grass, decoction of, action on Drosera, 84 Gray, Asa, on the Droseraceae, 2 Groenland, on Drosera, 1, 5 Gum, action of, on Drosera, 77 Guncotton, not digested by Drosera, 125 H.

Cabbage, decoction of, action on Drosera, 83 Cadmium chloride, action on Drosera, 183 Caesium, chloride of, action on Drosera, 181 Calcium, salts of, action on Drosera, 182 Camphor, action on Drosera, 209 Canby, Dr.

James Johnson advises persons not ailing to take five grains of blue pill with one or two of aloes twice a week for three or four months in the year, with half a pint of compound decoction of sarsaparilla every day for the same period, to preserve health and prolong life.

From sunfall till the setting of Scorpio, which occurred well after midnight at that season, it had been my duty to tend the gradual inspissation of a decoction of scarabs, much favored by Mior Lumivix in the compounding of his most requested love-potions.