pabulum








noun

  1. something that nourishes an animal or vegetable organism; food; nutriment.
  2. material for intellectual nourishment.
  3. pablum(def 2).

noun rare

  1. food
  2. food for thought, esp when bland or dull

n.“food” for anything, 1670s, from Latin pabulum “fodder, food, nourishment,” from PIE root *pa- “to protect, feed” (see food) + instrumentive suffix *-dhlom. Pablum (1932), derived from this, is a trademark (Mead Johnson & Co.) for a soft, bland cereal used as a food for infants and weak and invalid people, hence figurative use (attested from 1970, first by U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew) in reference to “mushy” political prose.

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