Obs. [f. L. lav-āre to wash + -ATIVE.] A draught to wash down food or medicine.
1633. Hart, Diet of Diseased, I. viii. 30. Now and then they will afford themselves a cup of good liquor, as a lavative, to wash downe this rubbish. Ibid., III. xv. 288. As for the lavative, ordinarily given after purgations … it is hard to determine the particular houre.
