embrocation

“Oh! my dear sir, her throat is so much better that I have hardly any uneasiness about it. Either bathing has been of the greatest service to her, or else it is to be attributed to an excellent embrocation of Mr. Wingfield’s, which we have been applying at times ever since August.”

The last sentence, applying a little irony to herself as if it were an embrocation, is what we should value most.

As the Premier League takes a breath, sucks on half an orange, and smears some soothing embrocation across a vivid set of autumnal bruises, this seems like an ideal moment to sit back and review a particularly frantic opening act.

One amusing account of whisky’s origin holds that it was invented by the Irish as an embrocation for sick mules.

An Embrocation.—An embrocation is made after this manner:—Px.