tabloid

Definition

A small, compressed portion of a chemical, drug, food substance, etc.; a pill, a tablet.

Etymology

The noun is derived from tabl(et) + -oid (suffix meaning ‘having the likeness of, resembling’), originally coined by the United Kingdom firm Burroughs, Wellcome & Company as a brand name for their medicines and other products such as tea in tablet form and registered as a trademark on 14 March 1884. Noun sense 2 (“compact or compressed version of something; especially something having a popular or sensational nature”) is influenced by noun sense 2.2 (“newspaper characterized as favouring stories of a popular or sensational nature over serious news”). The adjective and verb are derived from the noun.

Example Sentences

• "One of the compartments was found to contain some forty compressed tabloids, which on analysis proved to be potassium bromide."
• "Messrs. Burroughs and Wellcome have for some years past made a specialty of supplying various developers and other photographic preparations in "tabloid" form. A large number of tabloids are contained in a very small bottle, and only require crushing and dissolving in the stated quantity of water to produce a large volume of solution. […] A word of warning with respect to these convenient preparations may not be amiss: it is that in these days, when so many medicines are made up in tabloid form, great care is quite necessary to avoid any chance of mistakes by the mixing together of medicine tabloids and photographic tabloids, which may contain harmful chemicals, and might be inadvertently swallowed by mistake for the medicines."
• "'It's those tabloids!' Conroy stamped his foot feebly as he blew his nose. 'They’ve knocked me out. I used to be fit once. Oh, I've tried exercise and everything. But—if one sits down for a minute when it's due—even at four in the morning—it runs up behind one.'"