A medicine which has the quality of stopping hemorrhage or discharges of blood. Styptics have the quality of astringents, but the word styptic is used in a sense different from that of astringent, and much more limited. Styptics are usually external applications for restraining discharges of blood; astringents are usually internal applications for stopping bleeding, or for strengthening the solids. Astringent is the general term; styptic a subdivision of it.