placebo |pləˈsēbō|noun ( pl. -bos) a harmless pill, medicine,
or procedure prescribed
more for the psychological benefit
to the patient than for any physiological effect:
his Aunt Beatrice had been kept alive
on sympathy and placebos
for thirty years [as adj. placebo drugs.
• a substance that has no therapeutic effect,
used as a control in testing new drugs.
•figurative a measure designed
merely to calm or please someone.
ORIGIN late 18th cent.:
from Latin, literally ‘I shall please,’
from placere ‘to please.’
libido |ləˈbēdō|noun ( pl. -dos) ****** desire:
loss of libido | a deficient libido.
•Psychoanalysis the energy of the ****** drive
as a component of the life instinct.
DERIVATIVES libidinal |-ˈbidn-əl|
adjective libidinally |-ˈbidn-əlē| adverb
ORIGIN early 20th cent.: from Latin, literally ‘desire, lust.’