Stool softener
A type of medication that leads to the softening of stool, which is affectionately known to others as poop, crap, and feces. How does a stool softener work? It works by lowering the amount of tension of the stool. By lowering the amount of tension, fluids from the intestines are able to enter the stool and soften it. Without the stool softener, the tension of the stool would prevent the liquids in the intestine from softening it. Check out the entry for bisacodyl, for an example of a stool softener.

Stool softener comes from the Anglo Saxon word "stol" meaning "seat" and the Old English word “softe” meaning “gentle.” Put the words together and you get “gentle seat.” The reason for this is that the word "stool" was used to describe the seat one sat on to go to the bathroom. So when people would go to the bathroom, the expression was that they were "going to stool." By the end of the 16th century, the word stool was used to mean the same thing as "feces."