1A preventive medicinal agent.
2The branch of medicine concerned with the prevention of disease.
Late 17th century; earliest use found in Samuel Pordage (bap. 1633, d. c1691), poet and translator.
英汉双解词典包含464360条英汉词条，基本涵盖了全部常用单词的翻译及用法，是英语学习的有利工具。