Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Nostrum \Nos"trum\ (-tr[u^]m), n.; pl. {Nostrums} (-tr[u^]mz).
   [Neut. sing. of L. noster ours, fr. nos we. See {Us}.]
   1. A medicine, the ingredients of which are kept secret for
      the purpose of restricting the profits of sale to the
      inventor or proprietor; a quack medicine.

   2. Any scheme or device proposed by a quack.

            The incentives of agitators, the arts of impostors
            and the nostrums of quacks.           --Brougham.