Pill vs Tonic - What's the difference?
pill | tonic |
A small, usually cylindrical object designed for easy swallowing, usually containing some sort of medication.
* 1864 , Benjamin Ellis, The Medical Formulary [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC14843090&id=pHoMvHRmrlIC&pg=PA170&lpg=PA170&dq=%22take+two+pills%22&as_brr=1]
(senseid) Contraceptive medication, usually in the form of a pill to be taken by a woman; an oral contraceptive pill.
* 1986 , Jurriaan Plesman,
(slang) A comical or entertaining person.
(slang) A contemptible, annoying, or unpleasant person.
* {{quote-book, year=1960
, author=
, title=(Jeeves in the Offing)
, section=chapter IV
, passage=You see, he's egging Phyllis on to marry Wilbert Cream. [...] And when a man like that eggs, something has to give, especially when the girl's a pill like Phyllis, who always does what Daddy tells her.}}
* 2000 , Susan Isaacs, Shining Through [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0061030155&id=6_1FJWFEYGoC&pg=PA172&lpg=PA172&dq=%22a+real+pill%22&sig=RCUR5O3MhNXeq8rMOnx9-LR5Mfo]
(informal) A small piece of any substance, for example a ball of fibres formed on the surface of a textile by rubbing.
* 1999 , Wally Lamb, I Know This Much Is True [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0060987561&id=LOYeA9GmrEwC&pg=PA201&lpg=PA201&dq=%22sweater+pills%22&sig=U11GOkTpfHlqyGyIdk7ZNZ0GNuI]
A baseball.
* 2002 , John Klima, Pitched Battle: 35 of Baseball's Greatest Duels from the Mound [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0786412038&id=G126RsLD3MsC&pg=PA44&lpg=PA44&dq=%22threw+the+pill%22&sig=NmyoxWN_bP5AHc9imVPMTxY7lvw]
(firearms) (informal) a bullet (projectile)
(textiles) Of a woven fabric surface, to form small matted balls of fiber.
* 1997 , Jo Sharp, Knitted Sweater Style: Inspirations in Color [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN1561581895&id=l5h-cGU5HUYC&pg=PA11&lpg=PA11&dq=sweater+pilling&sig=6gfLWBL1QHVQZmbSYhJ4oipm8Kc]
To form into the shape of a pill.
To medicate with pills.
(label) To peel; to remove the outer layer of hair, skin, or bark.
To peel; to make by removing the skin.
*(Bible), (w) xxx. 37
*:[Jacob] pilled white streaksin the rods.
To be peeled; to peel off in flakes.
(label) To pillage; to despoil or impoverish.
*:
*:So syr Lucan departed for he was greuously wounded in many places And so as he yede he sawe and herkened by the mone lyght how that pyllars and robbers were comen in to the felde To pylle and robbe many a ful noble knyghte of brochys and bedys of many a good rynge & of many a ryche Iewel / and who that were not deed al oute
:(Spenser)
The peel or skin.
* Holland
(physics, pathology) Pertaining to tension, especially of muscles.
* 2009 , Thomas Pynchon, Inherent Vice , Vintage 2010, p. 316:
Restorative, curative or invigorating.
A substance with medicinal properties intended to restore or invigorate.
Tonic water.
(US, Northeastern US) Any of various carbonated, non-alcoholic beverages; soda pop.
(figuratively) Something that revitalises or reinvigorates.
* {{quote-news
, year=2011
, date=February 5
, author=Paul Fletcher
, title=Newcastle 4 - 4 Arsenal
, work=BBC
(music) Pertaining to the keynote of a composition.
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.
(music) The first note of a scale.
(music) The triad built on the tonic note.
(phonetics) A tonic element or letter; a vowel or a diphthong.
As nouns the difference between pill and tonic
is that pill is a small, usually cylindrical object designed for easy swallowing, usually containing some sort of medication or pill can be the peel or skin or pill can be an inlet on the coast; a small tidal pool or bay while tonic is a substance with medicinal properties intended to restore or invigorate or tonic can be (music) the first note of a scale.As a verb pill
is (textiles) of a woven fabric surface, to form small matted balls of fiber or pill can be (label) to peel; to remove the outer layer of hair, skin, or bark.As an adjective tonic is
(physics|pathology) pertaining to tension, especially of muscles or tonic can be (music) pertaining to the keynote of a composition.pill
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) or (etyl) pille (whence (etyl) pil), probably from (etyl) pilula.Noun
(en noun)- Take two pills every hour in the apyrexia of intermittent fever, until eight are taken.
- Jane went on the pill when she left for college.
- She got pregnant one month after going off the pill .
Getting Off the Hook: Treatment of Drug Addiction and Social Disorders Through Body and Mind:
- Many specialists are requesting that this vitamin be included in all contraceptive pills, as women on the pill have a tendency to be depressed.
- Instead, I saw a woman in her mid-fifties, who was a real pill ; while all the others had managed a decent “So pleased,” or even a plain “Hello,” Ginger just inclined her head, as if she was doing a Queen Mary imitation.
- One sleeve, threadbare and loaded with what my mother called “sweater pills ,” hung halfway to the floor.
- Mr. Fisher contributed to the Sox effort when he threw the pill past second baseman Rath after Felsch hit him a comebacker.
Synonyms
* (small object for swallowing) tabletDerived terms
* bitter pill to swallow * blue pill * chill pill * horse pill * morning-after pill * on the pill * pill beetle * pill bug * pill popper * red pill * sugar pill * pop pillsVerb
(en verb)- During processing, inferior short fibers (which can cause pilling and itching) are removed to enhance the natural softness of the yarn and to improve its wash-and-wear performance.
- Pilling is a skill rarely used by modern pharmacists.
- She pills herself with all sorts of herbal medicines.
Etymology 2
From (etyl) .Verb
(en verb)Noun
(en noun)- Some be covered over with crusts, or hard pills , as the locusts.
Etymology 3
From (etyl) . More at (l).tonic
English
Alternative forms
* tonick (obsolete)Etymology 1
From (etyl) . 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.Adjective
(en adjective)- 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.
- The arrival of the new members had a tonic effect on the team.
Noun
(en noun)- We used to brew a tonic from a particular kind of root.
citation, page= , passage=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.}}