veronal

Noun

1. A barbiturate, used formerly to induce sleep.
   • He was by now so worn out that he could not resist my firmness. I gave him a sufficient dose of veronal to insure his unconsciousness for several hours. I thought that was the best service I could render him. - 1919,...
   • She died of an overdose of veronal. She's been taking it lately for sleeplessness. Must have taken too much. - 1926, Agatha Christie, chapter 1, in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd:
   • I have seen the Brazilian press photograph of Zweig and Lotte, his second wife, lying dead of their overdoses of veronal on two pushed-together single iron bedsteads, he on his back, mouth a little agape, in a...

   Synonyms: barbital diethylmalonyl urea diethylbarbituric acid barbitol