Dictionary Definition
apothecary n : a health professional trained in
the art of preparing and dispensing drugs [syn: pharmacist, druggist, chemist, pill pusher,
pill
roller]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Noun
Translations
a person
- Bosnian: apotekar
- Catalan: farmacèutic , farmacèutica
- Croatian: apotekar, ljekarnik
- Dutch: apotheker
- French: pharmacien
- German: Apotheker
- Hebrew:
- Hungarian: patikus
- Icelandic: apótekari
- Russian: аптекарь
- Serbian:
- Slovene: lekarnar , lekarnarka
- Spanish: farmacéutico, farmacéutica
- West Frisian: apoteker
a drugstore
See also
- pedialite Apothecary
- pedialite Pharmacy
Extensive Definition
Apothecary () is a historical name for a medical who formulates and
dispenses materia
medica to physicians, surgeons and patients — a role now served by
a pharmacist.
In addition to pharmacy the apothecary also
offered general medical advice and a range of services that are now
performed solely by other specialist practitioners, such as surgery
and midwifery.
Apothecaries often operated through a retail shop, which in
addition to ingredients for medicines, would also sell tobacco and patent
medicines.
In its investigation of herbal and
chemical ingredients, the work of the apothecary may be regarded as
a precursor of the modern sciences of chemistry and pharmacology, prior to the
formulation of the scientific
method.
The first apothecary shops were founded during
the Middle Ages
by Muslim
practitioners. By the 15th century, the apothecary gained the
status of a skilled practitioner, but by the end of the 19th
century, the medical professions had taken on their current
institutional form, with defined roles for physicians and surgeons,
and the role of the apothecary was more narrowly conceived as that
of dispensing pharmacist.
In England, the apothecaries merited their own
livery
company, the
Worshipful Society of Apothecaries, founded in 1617. Elizabeth
Garrett Anderson became the first woman to gain a medical
qualification in Britain when she passed the Society's examination
in 1865.
Apothecaries used the now obsolete apothecaries'
system to provide precise weighing of small quantities.
Noted apothecaries
References
See also
apothecary in German: Apotheker
apothecary in Spanish: Boticario
apothecary in French: Apothicaire
apothecary in Dutch: Apotheker
apothecary in Low German: Aftheiker
apothecary in Swedish: Apotekare
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
antique store, automobile showroom, bookstore, bootery, candy store, chemist, cigar store, clothiers, clothing store,
confectionery,
dispenser, dress shop,
druggist, drugstore, dry goods store,
florists, fur salon,
furniture store, gallipot, gift shop, haberdashery, hardware
store, hat shop, hobby shop, ironmongery, jewelers, jewelry store,
leather goods store, liquor store, luggage shop, milliners, novelty shop,
package store, pharmaceutist, pharmacist, pharmacy, posologist, saddlery, schlock house,
schlock shop, secondhand shop, secondhand store, shoe store, smoke
shop, specialty shop, sporting goods store, stationers, stationery store,
sweater shop, sweet shop, thrift shop, tobacco store, tobacconists, toy shop,
trimming store, used-car lot