Astringent

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language

·adj Stern; austere; as, an astringent type of virtue.

II. Astringent ·noun A medicine or other substance that produces contraction in the soft organic textures, and checks discharges of blood, mucus, ·etc.

III. Astringent ·adj Drawing together the tissues; binding; contracting;

— opposed to laxative; as, astringent medicines; a butter and astringent taste; astringent fruit.