Word Origin Atlas

Exact historical dictionary sense

Drug in Webster's 1913 dictionary

The 1913 record labels drug as noun. Its source-bounded etymology and selected historical definition appear below.

WEBSTER 1913noun
Drug

[F. drogue, prob. fr. D. droog; akin to E. dry; thus orig., dry substance, hers, plants, or wares. See Dry.]

Cross-verified historical sense
The source text may be outdated. The page preserves that historical boundary.
Cross-verified 1913 record
Headworddrug
Part of speechnoun
Historical etymology[F. drogue, prob. fr. D. droog; akin to E. dry; thus orig., dry substance, hers, plants, or wares. See Dry.]
Selected historical definitionAny animal, vegetable, or mineral substance used in the composition of medicines.
Signed record IDwebster1913-drug-noun-48cbd78d7c18
Source locatorCIDE.D, paragraph 13701; Gutenberg eBook 662
Edition-scoped answerNot earliest-attestation proofNot modern consensus
Independent historical textProject Gutenberg section 662Signed structural record sourceGNU GCIDE 0.54 archive
Quick answer

In Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "drug" is labeled noun. Its etymology is recorded as: "[F. drogue, prob. fr. D. droog; akin to E. dry; thus orig., dry substance, hers, plants, or wares. See Dry.]" The selected historical definition says: "Any animal, vegetable, or mineral substance used in the composition of medicines."

Project Gutenberg Webster 1913 plus signed GNU GCIDE 0.54 Exact cross-verified historical record reviewed 2026-10-04

What this answer proves

One named sense in one historical dictionary edition.

The answer reports the selected headword, part of speech, etymology, definition, and source locator as transcribed in the cross-verified 1913 record.

Evidence boundaryIt does not establish the earliest attestation or a complete borrowing chain.It does not claim current scholarly consensus or a modern dictionary definition.Historical dictionary text may be obsolete, incomplete, inaccurate, or offensive by modern standards.

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[Cf. dessein, dessin.]

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[OE. droppen, AS. dropan, v. i. See Drop, n.]

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Double

[OE. doble, duble, double, OF. doble, duble, double, F. double, fr. L. duplus, fr. the root of duo two, and perh. that of plenus full; akin to Gr. diplo`os double. See Two, and Full, and cf. Diploma, Duple.]

Webster 1913 exact record

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