huis-apotheek, noun

/ˈhœɪsapɔˌtɪək/
Forms:
huisapatheek, huisapoteekShow more Also huisapatheek, huisapoteek, huisapteek, and with initial capital.
Plurals:
huis-apotheeks, huis-apteke/ˈhœɪsaptɪəkə/.
Origin:
Dutch, AfrikaansShow more Dutch (later Afrikaans huisapteek), huis house, home + apotheek dispensary, pharmacy.
historical
A medicine-chest of patent remedies, formerly used in many rural (Afrikaans) households. Also attributive. See also boereraat, trommel sense 1.
1868 W.R. Thomson Poems, Essays & Sketches 167At a bare little table..sits the huisvrouw, with..a coffee or tea kettle on the table beside her, and the huis-apotheek..on the window-ledge near her.
1871 J. Mackenzie Ten Yrs N. of Orange River 110Before leaving home, they purchase..a small tin box, gaudily painted, and labelled ‘huis-apotheek’, being an assortment of medicines for domestic use.
1884 B.G. Lennon & Co.’s Catal. 1884 65Huis Apotheeks, small, each 10s.6d.
1908 J.M. Orpen Reminisc. (1964) 27The ordinary medicine chest of a Boer’s house was a well-known japanned tin box with ‘Huis Apatheek’ printed upon it.
1914 L.H. Brinkman Breath of Karroo 260Nettie was ordered off to bed, and given a dose from Tante Let’s ‘Huis Apotheek’.
1919 Dunell, Ebden & Co.’s Price List Oct. 20Huis Apotheeks, small 10/6..large 15/- Per doz.
1933 W. Macdonald Romance of Golden Rand 214There were many farmers, like the old Boer just mentioned, who kept thousands of pounds sterling in their houses, very often in the Dutch medicine canister — (Die Huis-apteek).
1940 Baumann & Bright Lost Republic 227The treatment did not kill him, as it might have done when one thinks of all the patent medicines usually found in the ‘Huis Apteke’.
1968 K. McMagh Dinner of Herbs 47There must have been a stout little wooden chest kept handy, a little box that held medicines. This was known as ‘Die Huis Apteek’, the medicine chest that took the place of the family doctor, honoured by the name of ‘The Home Pharmacy’ and usually imported from Germany.
1972 N. Sapeika in Std Encycl. of Sn Afr. VII. 303The ‘huisapotheek’ remedies were used empirically and mainly for symptomatic treatment.
1991 Best of S. Afr. Short Stories (Reader’s Digest Assoc.) 112Every wagon and country home had its huis-apotheek or ‘home pharmacy’ of patent remedies, many of them with a remarkably high alcohol content.
A medicine-chest of patent remedies, formerly used in many rural (Afrikaans) households. Also attributive.
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18681991

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historical
huilebalk, nounn.huisbesoek, nounn.
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