a. and sb. Chiefly Med. [f. CALM v. + -ATIVE. (The Latinic suffix is here defensible on the ground of the It. and Sp. calmar, F. calmer: but cf. -ATIVE.)]
A. adj. Having a calming effect; sedative.
1871. Napheys, Prev. & Cure Dis., II. v. 569. Cool sponging of the limbs and body is always grateful and calmative in delirium.
1875. H. C. Wood, Therap. (1879), 59. A calmative action on the nervous system.
B. sb. A medical agent that quiets inordinate action of an organ; transf. and fig. anything that has a calming effect.
1870. Pall Mall Gaz., 5 Nov., 4/1. The venerable Professor of Materia Medica tried to prescribe a calmative.
1875. H. Walton, Dis. Eye, 103. The combination of iron with calmatives and sedatives.
1883. Brit. Q. Rev., July, 19. There is no more effectual calmative to the irritable nervous system than the healthy fatigue of sustained labour.
