[ noun ] a medicine used to relieve pain <noun.artifact>
painkiller \pain"kil`ler\ n. A medicine used in to relieve pain.
Syn: analgesic, anodyne, pain pill. [WordNet 1.5]
Former pro football star John Matuszak died of an accidental overdose of a mild narcotic painkiller, the coroner said Tuesday in a report that also found non-lethal traces of cocaine in his system.
Investigations by the state Department of Health and Camden County Prosecutor Samuel Asbell show that a technician accidently gave the patients an injection of the painkiller lidocaine instead of mannitol, which regulates blood pressure.
The patient had been given Valium March 12 as a painkiller for routine dental work, Kanner said.
Higher interest rates may be necessary to protect the U.S. dollar and preserve the needed inflow of foreign capital, but that is tantamount to taking a painkiller while the cancer continues to grow.
Health Minister Olikoye Ransome Kuti announced Tuesday that more than 100 children have died in the past month after taking a tainted syrup prescribed as a painkiller.
The U.S. unit of Hoechst AG said it expects to begin producing within a year a low-cost version of the popular non-aspirin painkiller, acetaminophen.
Chao Yang, 38, says he began smoking opium as a painkiller in 1972 after his knee was shattered by a bullet during a battle with North Vietnamese soldiers in Laos.