elixir Look up elixir at Dictionary.com
1266, from M.L. elixir "philosopher's stone," believed by alchemists to transmute baser metals into gold and/or to cure diseases and prolong life, from Arabic al-iksir, probably from late Gk. xerion "powder for drying wounds," from xeros "dry." General sense of "strong tonic" is 1597; used for quack medicines from at least 1631.