Drugs refers to a substance used to treat an illness, relieve a symptom, or modify a chemical process in the body for a specific purpose. It commonly describes a psychoactive substance, especially one which is illegal and addictive, ingested for recreational use, such as cocaine, anything, such as a substance, emotion or action, to which one is addicted, and any commodity that lies on hand, or is not salable; an article of slow sale, or in no demand, which gives the term a broader and more practical sense than a single short definition would suggest. Depending on context, it can also point to a drudge, to administer intoxicating drugs to, generally without the recipient's knowledge or consent, and to add intoxicating drugs to with the intention of drugging someone, so the category can cover literal uses, related ideas, and more figurative extensions of the same core meaning. Taken together, these meanings present Drugs as a flexible theme rather than a narrowly technical label, covering the central idea people usually mean when they use the word while still leaving room for closely related senses that appear in real language. Additional shades of meaning include to prescribe or administer drugs or medicines, which reinforce how the category can stretch across adjacent but still recognizable uses of the same term.
