suppository

From Middle English suppositorie, from Anglo-Norman, from Medieval Latin suppositorium, from Late Latin, neuter of suppositorius (“placed beneath”), from Latin supponere (“to put under”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /səˈpɒzɪtəɹi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) enPR: sə-päzʹĭ-tôr'ē, IPA^(key): /səˈpɑzɪˌtɔɹi/

suppository (plural suppositories)

1. (medicine) A medicine in the form of a small plug that is inserted into a bodily cavity, especially the rectum, vagina or urethra, where it melts at body temperature.

   Hyponym: pessary

   rectal suppository;   vaginal suppository

   • 1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 372:

     He's smoother than a suppository, only his suppositories contain dynamite.