Noun

A remedy believed to cure all disease and prolong life that was originally sought by alchemists; a cure-all.

Something that will solve all problems.

A monorail will be a panacea for our traffic woes.

(obsolete) A particular plant believed to provide a cure-all.

* 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , III.v:

There, whether it diuine Tobacco'' were, / Or ''Panachæa'' , or ''Polygony , / She found, and brought it to her patient deare [...].

Noun

(en noun)

A brief interval of rest or relief.

* Denham

Some pause and respite only I require.

* Shakespeare

I crave but four day's respite .

*, chapter=10

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=It was a joy to snatch some brief respite , and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.}}

* 2013 May 23, (Sarah Lyall), " British Leader’s Liberal Turn Sets Off a Rebellion in His Party," New York Times (retrieved 29 May 2013):

Mr. Cameron had a respite Thursday from the negative chatter swirling around him when he appeared outside 10 Downing Street to denounce the murder a day before of a British soldier on a London street.

(legal) A reprieve, especially from a sentence of death.

(legal) The delay of appearance at court granted to a jury beyond the proper term.