a. and sb.; also antiacid. [f. ANT- = Gr. ἀντί against + ACID.]
A. adj. Having the power of counteracting acidity, esp. in the stomach.
1732. Arbuthnot, Rules of Diet, 249. Carrots … antiacid and fattening.
1875. Wood, Therap. (1879), 452. Magnesia and its carbonate act in the same manner … being both antacid and laxative.
1880. Times, 5 Oct., 4/6. Brewers do not disdain the use of glucose, antacid finings, and more recondite drugs.
B. sb. A remedy for, or preventive of, acidity.
1731. Arbuthnot, Aliments, v. 57 (J.). Oils are Antiacids so far as they blunt Acrimony.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., Antacids are chiefly of the alcalious kind.
1861. Hulme, trans. Moquin-Tandon, II. III. ii. 87. The shell of the oyster … was formerly extolled as a powerful absorbent and antiacid.
