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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)