cataplasm (plural cataplasms)

1. (medicine) A poultice or plaster, spread over one's skin as medical treatment.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 54573970 ↗, partition II, section 5, member 3, subsection ii:

     Aretæus prescribes cataplasms of camomile flowers, fennel, aniseeds, cummin, rosemary, wormwood leaves, etc.

   • 1837, Thomas Green Fessenden, James Engelbert Teschemacher, Joseph Breck, The Horticultural Register and Gardener's Magazine (volume 3, page 332)

     For medical purposes, figs are chiefly used in emollient cataplasms, and pectorial decoctions.

• poultice