bromide

Definition

A binary compound of bromine and some other element or radical.

Etymology

From brom- + -ide. First used in the sense “dull person” by Gelett Burgess. Figurative sense ("platitude") by extending the medicating sense through the metaphor of pacifying or placating.

Example Sentences

• "“How fortunate Buddha, Mahomed, and Shakespeare were that their kind relations and doctors did not cure them of their ecstasy and their inspiration,” said Kovrin. “If Mahomed had taken bromide for his nerves, had worked only two hours out of the twenty-four, and had drunk milk, that remarkable man would have left no more trace after him than his dog. […]”"
• "My adviser at college was a bromide who had not had an original thought in years."
• "The bromide conforms to everything sanctioned by the majority, and may be depended upon to be trite, banal, and arbitrary."