talk like an apothecary

== English == === Pronunciation === === Verb === talk like an apothecary (third-person singular simple present talks like an apothecary, present participle talking like an apothecary, simple past and past participle talked like an apothecary) (intransitive, idiomatic, archaic slang) To prattle. 1824, Naso., Sneezing, in The New Monthly Magazine, volume X, page 152: As to Clement of Alexandria, I shall pass him by, as he knew nothing about the matter. He talks like an apothecary on the subject; and when did ever an apothecary talk to any purpose? July, 1807, Omar and Fatima; or, the Apothecary of Ispahan, published in the Literary Magazine and American Register, volume VIII, number 46, page 6: "And you have so little of the former left," said the old woman, as she presented him with a plate of the aliment and a glass of the menstruum, "that without we have a fresh supply, I foresee that you will be reduced to live upon your own medicines." "You do not talk like an apothecary," said Nadir, "if you expect that I could exist upon them in the way you suggest." ==== Related terms ==== apothecary's Latin === References === [Francis] Grose [et al.] (1811), “Apothecary”, in Lexicon Balatronicum. A Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit, and Pickpocket Eloquence. […], London: […] C. Chappell, […], →OCLC.