Catholicon

Word of the Day for Saturday, September 29, 2012

Catholicon \kuh-THOL-i-kuhn\, noun:

A universal remedy; panacea.

And then they sweep out again, leaving the fevered peasants their catholicon of faith, while, overhead, vultures ebonise the sky.
-- Thomas H. Cook, The Orchids

At any rate, this same humour has something, there is no telling what, of beneficence in it, it is such a catholicon and charm—nearly all men agreeing in relishing it, though they may agree in little else—and in its way it undeniably does such a deal of familiar good in the world, that no wonder it is almost a proverb, that a man of humour, a man capable of a good loud laugh—seem how he may in other things—can hardly be a heartless scamp.
-- Herman Melville, The Confidence-Man

Catholicon stems from the Greek word katholikós which meant "according to the whole, universal."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com