leechdom means A medicine; remedy. It carries an Arena rating of 1688, earned across 11 head-to-head judged battles.
Why “leechdom” is a great word
A prepared substance or practice intended to cure disease or alleviate suffering, its name deriving from Old English lǣċedōm ("medicament, medicine"), from lǣċe ("physician") and -dōm ("state, condition, domain"). First attested in the Old English period (pre-1150). Unlike a pharmaceutical, a precise, industrial product, or a panacea, a fantastical cure-all, a leechdom is a specific, often humble, offering against a specific affliction. It is the crushed comfrey poultice bound with linen, the bitter decoction simmering in a clay pot, the whispered charm spoken over a salve of goose-grease and yarrow—the tangible, local hope offered against the vast, impersonal dark of illness, a quiet faith placed in knowledge passed hand to hand.
Etymology
From Middle English lechedom, from Old English lǣċedōm (“medicament, medicine; healing, salvation”), equivalent to leech + -dom.
noun
- A medicine; remedy.“That shall be a leechdom for her, for the one who there combeth her head.”