tonic
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]- tonick (obsolete)
Pronunciation
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]From Ancient Greek τονικός (tonikós), from τόνος (tónos). 17th century writers believed health to be derived from firmly stretched muscles, thus tonic; the extension of tonic medicine appeared in the late 18th century. By surface analysis, ton(e) + -ic.
Adjective
[edit]tonic (comparative more tonic, superlative most tonic)
- (physics, pathology) Pertaining to tension, especially of muscles.
- 2009, Thomas Pynchon, Inherent Vice, Vintage, published 2010, page 316:
- Out in front and across the street, Doc noted half a dozen or so young men, not loitering or doing substances but poised and tonic, as if waiting for some standing order to take effect.
- Restorative, curative or invigorating.
- The arrival of the new members had a tonic effect on the team.
- (medicine, neuroscience) In a state of continuous unremitting action.
- Peter Redgrave (2007) Basal ganglia. Scholarpedia, 2(6):1825.
- GABAergic neurones in the basal ganglia output nuclei have high tonic firing rates (40-80 Hz).
- Peter Redgrave (2007) Basal ganglia. Scholarpedia, 2(6):1825.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
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Noun
[edit]tonic (usually uncountable, plural tonics)
- A substance with medicinal properties intended to restore or invigorate.
- We used to brew a tonic from a particular kind of root.
- Tonic water.
- (US, Eastern Massachusetts, dated) Any of various carbonated, non-alcoholic beverages; soda pop.
- (figuratively) Someone or something that revitalises or reinvigorates.
- 1978, “She's So Modern”, performed by The Boomtown Rats:
- Charlie ain't no Nazi / She likes to wear her leather boots / 'Cause it's exciting for the veterans / And it's a tonic for the troops.
- 2011, Cathy Kelly, She's the One:
- 'You're a tonic, Dee,' she said. 'And a real friend. Thanks.'
- 2011 February 5, Paul Fletcher, “Newcastle 4 - 4 Arsenal”, in BBC[1]:
- The result is the perfect tonic for Newcastle, coming at the end of a week that saw the departure of Andy Carroll to Liverpool on Monday and an injury to Shola Ameobi during Wednesday's defeat at Fulham.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
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Verb
[edit]tonic (third-person singular simple present tonics, present participle tonicking, simple past and past participle tonicked)
- (medicine, archaic) To restore or invigorate.
- 1887, Medical Press and Circular, volume 94, page 461:
- When all signs of effusion, dulness, pain, œgophony, and cough had disappeared he was dieted, stimulated, and tonicked.
- 1939, Frank Grant Menke, Encyclopedia of Sports, page 17:
- The Persians, as a nation, were first to discover that fish were edible. The time is fixed at about 3000 B.C. This was their secret for some centuries—until the Assyrians learned about the elegance of fish for tonicking the brain.
Etymology 2
[edit]Adjective
[edit]tonic (not comparable)
- (music) Pertaining to or based upon the first note of a diatonic scale.
- Pertaining to the accent or stress in a word or in speech.
- Of or relating to tones or sounds; specifically (phonetics, dated) being or relating to a speech sound made with tone unmixed and undimmed by obstruction, i.e. a vowel or diphthong.
Derived terms
[edit]Noun
[edit]tonic (plural tonics)
- (music) The first note of a diatonic scale; the keynote.
- (music) The triad built on the tonic note.
- (phonetics) A tonic element or letter; a vowel or a diphthong.
Translations
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Anagrams
[edit]French
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Borrowed from English tonic, from tonic water.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]tonic m (plural tonics)
- drink made up mainly of cinchona
- tonic water
Further reading
[edit]- “tonic”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Romanian
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Noun
[edit]tonic n (plural tonici)
Declension
[edit]- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɒnɪk
- Rhymes:English/ɒnɪk/2 syllables
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ten-
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English terms suffixed with -ic
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- en:Physics
- en:Pathology
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with usage examples
- en:Medicine
- en:Neuroscience
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- American English
- Massachusetts English
- English dated terms
- English verbs
- English terms with archaic senses
- English uncomparable adjectives
- en:Music
- en:Phonetics
- French terms borrowed from English
- French terms derived from English
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio pronunciation
- French terms with homophones
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French masculine nouns
- fr:Beverages
- Romanian terms borrowed from French
- Romanian terms derived from French
- Romanian lemmas
- Romanian nouns
- Romanian countable nouns
- Romanian neuter nouns