nostrum

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The Word of the Day for March 4 is: 

nostrum   \NAHSS-trum\   noun
     1 : a medicine of secret composition recommended by its preparer but 
usually without scientific proof of its effectiveness
    *2 : a usually questionable remedy or scheme : panacea

Example sentence: 
     Critics predict the mayor's plan to revitalize the downtown area by 
offering tax breaks to local businesses will prove a costly and ineffective 
nostrum.

Did you know? 
     "In those thrilling days of yesteryear," declared a 1990 Consumer Reports 
article, "patent-medicine pitchmen and traveling salesmen blanketed the 
country, hustling notions and nostrums to gullible settlers." The word 
"nostrum" has often been so linked to quack medicine and false hopes for 
miracle cures, but there's nothing deceitful about its etymology. It has been a 
part of English since at least 1602, and comes from the Latin "noster," meaning 
"our" or "ours." Some people think that specially prepared medicinal 
concoctions came to be called "nostrums" because their purveyors marketed them 
as "our own" remedy. In other words, the use of "nostrum" emphasized that such 
a potion was unique or exclusive to the pitchman peddling it.

*Indicates the sense illustrated by the example sentence. 






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