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a substance that produces , as halothane, procaine, or ether.
pertaining to or causing physical insensibility:
an anesthetic gas.
physically insensitive:
Halothane is used to produce an anesthetic state.
Historical Examples

Apparently the atmosphere of the great shops had acted on Carlotta like an anaesthetic.
The Morals of Marcus Ordeyne William J. Locke

I must have talked in an odd way, as people do who are recovering from an anaesthetic.
The Good Soldier Ford Madox Ford

The administration of an anaesthetic, by relaxing the muscles, greatly assists the operation of reduction.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 15, Slice 5 Various

The return to reality was as painful as the return to consciousness after taking an anaesthetic.
Ethan Frome Edith Wharton

Complete insensibility to pain may be induced by hypnotism, and it has been used as an anaesthetic.
Complete Hypnotism: Mesmerism, Mind-Reading and Spiritualism A. Alpheus

“I found the anaesthetic by its smell soon after I went to Xantra,” she explained.
Astounding Stories, July, 1931 Various

Cold affected them like an anaesthetic, causing complete unconsciousness.
Wanted–7 Fearless Engineers! Warner Van Lorne

Self-deception is the anaesthetic of life, while God is carving out our beings.
The Wheels of Chance H. G. Wells

That was why he had plunged into the affair with his mother’s protegée—as a sort of anaesthetic.
The Torrent Vicente Blasco Ibaez

The doctor, having arrived, examined the wound and suggested an anaesthetic.
Bucky O’Connor William MacLeod Raine

noun
a substance that causes anaesthesia
adjective
causing or characterized by anaesthesia
noun
local or general loss of bodily sensation, esp of touch, as the result of nerve damage or other abnormality
loss of sensation, esp of pain, induced by drugs: called general anaesthesia when consciousness is lost and local anaesthesia when only a specific area of the body is involved
a general dullness or lack of feeling
noun, adjective
the usual US spelling of anaesthetic
adj.

1846, “insensible,” from Greek anaisthetos “insensate, without feeling; senseless, stupid” (see anaesthesia). Noun meaning “agent that produces anesthesia” first used in modern sense 1848 by Scottish doctor James Young Simpson (1811-1870), discoverer of the surgical uses of chloroform.
n.

1721, “loss of feeling,” Modern Latin, from Greek anaisthesia “want of feeling, lack of sensation (to pleasure or pain),” from an- “without” (see an- (1)) + aisthesis “feeling,” from PIE root *au- “to perceive” (see audience). As “a procedure for the prevention of pain in surgical operations,” from 1846.
adj.

alternative spelling of anaesthetic (q.v.). See ae.

anesthetic an·es·thet·ic (ān’ĭs-thět’ĭk)
n.
An agent that reversibly depresses neuronal function, producing total or partial loss of sensation. adj.

Characterized by the loss of sensation.

Capable of producing a loss of sensation.

Associated with or due to the state of anesthesia.

an’es·thet’i·cal·ly adv.
anesthetic
(ān’ĭs-thět’ĭk)
A drug that temporarily depresses neuronal function, producing total or partial loss of sensation with or without the loss of consciousness.
anesthetic [(an-is-thet-ik)]

A substance that causes loss of sensation or consciousness. With the aid of an anesthetic, people can undergo surgery without pain. (See general anesthetic and local anesthetic.)