1. a sweet flavored liquid (usually containing a small amount of alcohol) used in compounding medicines to be taken by mouth in order to mask an unpleasant taste • Hypernyms: liquid 2. hypothetical substance that the alchemists believed to be capable of changing base metals into gold • Syn: philosopher's stone, philosophers' stone • Hypernyms: substance 3. a substance believed to cure all ills • Hypernyms: potion, panacea, nostrum, catholicon, cure-all • Hyponyms: elixir of life