Search Result for "placebo": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (2)

1. an innocuous or inert medication; given as a pacifier or to the control group in experiments on the efficacy of a drug;

2. (Roman Catholic Church) vespers of the office for the dead;


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Placebo \Pla*ce"bo\, n. [L., I shall please, fut. of placere to please.] 1. (R. C. Ch.) The first antiphon of the vespers for the dead. [1913 Webster] 2. (Med.) A prescription with no pharmacological activity given to a patient to humor or satisfy the desire for medical treatment. [1913 Webster] 3. (Med.) a dose of a compound having no pharmacological activity given to a subject in a medical experiment as part of a control experiment in a test of the effectiveness of another, active pharmacological agent. [PJC] To sing placebo, to agree with one in his opinion; to be complaisant to. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

placebo n 1: an innocuous or inert medication; given as a pacifier or to the control group in experiments on the efficacy of a drug 2: (Roman Catholic Church) vespers of the office for the dead