Take a powder
Posted by ESC on February 12, 2005
In Reply to: Take a powder posted by Walter Brody on February 12, 2005
: The phrase "take a powder" was posted in April of 2000. I have come across a new possibility for its derivation. Pharmacists would make up some prescriptions in the form of a powder and then put the correct dosage into a piece of paper and fold it so that it could be taken when necessary. You'd excuse yourself if it was time to take your medicine by saying, "I'm going to take a powder."
Some headache medicines still come in powder form in a folded paper. shop.store.yahoo.com/ buyinprivate/goodexstrenh.html