pill 1 S3 / pɪl / 名词

1 [可数名词] a small solid piece of medicine that you swallow whole :

He has to take pills to control his blood pressure.

sleeping pills

a bottle of vitamin pills

2 the Pill/the pill a pill taken regularly by some women in order to prevent them having babies

on the Pill

My doctor advised me to go on the pill (= start taking it regularly ) .

3 sugar/sweeten the pill to do something to make an unpleasant job or situation less unpleasant for the person who has to accept it

4 be a pill American English informal if someone, especially a child, is a pill, they are annoying :

Luke can be a real pill sometimes.

→ a bitter pill (to swallow) at bitter 1 ( 7 ) , → morning-after pill

COLLOCATIONS

动词

take a pill (= use it by swallowing it ) Have you taken your pills?

swallow a pill He swallowed a handful of pills.

pop a pill informal (= take one too easily, without thinking about it seriously ) Some people just pop a pill to get a good night’s sleep.

a doctor prescribes pills (= tells someone to take them ) Her doctor just prescribed more pills and told her to take it easy.

NOUN + pill

a sleeping pill I took a sleeping pill and tried to go back to sleep.

malaria pills (= pills that prevent malaria )

vitamin pills

diet pills (= pills that are said to help you become thinner )

THESAURUS

medicine 名词 [可数和不可数名词] a substance used for treating illness : Certain medicines should not be taken with alcohol. | Has he taken his medicine?

pill 名词 [可数名词] a small piece of medicine that you swallow : She managed to swallow the pill with a sip of water. | The doctor gave him some pills. | sleeping pills | diet pills | contraceptive pills

tablet 名词 [可数名词] especially British English a small piece of solid medicine : She’s now on four tablets a day. | a five-day course of tablets | sleeping tablets | anti-malaria tablets

antibiotics/aspirin/codeine etc : The doctor put him on a course of antibiotics. | Why don’t you take some aspirin? | The tablets contain codeine, which is unsuitable for people with asthma.

capsule 名词 [可数名词] a small tube-shaped container with medicine inside that you swallow whole : a bottle of 500 capsules of vitamin C | I advised her to take four to six garlic capsules a day for the duration of the treatment.

caplet 名词 [可数名词] a small smooth pill that is slightly longer than it is wide - used especially on bottles and containers : In small type, the consumer is warned not to take more than one caplet per day.

eye/ear drops liquid medicine that you put into your eye or ear : Remember — if you ’re using eye drops for your hay fever, leave your contact lenses out.

cream 名词 [可数和不可数名词] especially British English ( also lotion especially American English ) a thick smooth substance containing medicine, that you put on your skin : an antibiotic cream | antiseptic cream | skin cream

drug 名词 [可数名词] a medicine or a substance for making medicines : a drug used to treat malaria | There are a wide range of different drugs on the market.

dosage 名词 [可数名词，通常单数] the amount of medicine that you should take at one time : The dosage should be reduced to 0.5 mg. | It’s important to get the dosage right.

medication 名词 [可数和不可数名词] medicine or drugs given to someone who is ill : He takes medication for his diabetes. | She’s on medication (= taking medication ) , having suffered from depression for a number of years.