In medicine, relating to a substance or treatment that promotes expulsion or ejection, especially of the fetus or other matter from the body.
From Greek 'ekbolikos' (promoting expulsion), derived from 'ekbole' (a throwing out). Medical practitioners adopted this term for remedies that induced labor or other expulsions.
Medieval and ancient doctors used 'ecbolic' herbs and potions to try to induce childbirth—it's one of the oldest medical terms describing drugs meant to make the body expel something.
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