a. and sb. Obs. Also con-. [ME. confortatif, a. F. confortatif, -ive:—L. type *confortātīv-us: see COMFORT v. and -ATIVE.]
A. adj. Having the quality of comforting.
1. Strengthening, reviving (medicine, food, etc.).
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. xli. (1495), 627. Saffron is confortatyf.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., 338 (Add. MS). It must be wyne confortatif [v.r. comfortable] that shuld be yeven to the sike.
1567. Drant, Horace’s Epist., xviii. F v. For life and limmes comfortityue.
1620. Venner, Via Recta, vii. 149. It is of a notable abstersiue, consolidatiue and confortatiue [1650 comfortative] faculty.
1683. Salmon, Doron Med., I. 299. Incarnative, Comfortative, Regenerative.
2. Cheering; cheerful. rare–1
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XV. 213. Þe loue þat lith in his herte maketh hymn lyȝte of speche, And is companable and confortatyf, as cryst bit hymselue, Nolite fieri sicut ypocrite, tristes, etc.
B. sb. A strengthening or reviving medicine, a cordial. Also fig.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VII. xxxii. (1495), 247. Ayenst herte quakynge men shall yeue confortatyues.
1564. P. Moore, Hope Health, II. ix. 28. Borage … is a comfortatiue to the harte.
1684. trans. Bonet’s Merc. Compit., xix. 695. Confortatives alone without stimulaters … have not had the desired effect.
1742. Jarvis, Quix., II. IV. vi. (D.). The two hundred crowns in gold … as a cordial and comfortative I carry next my heart.
