BLOWPIPE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Blowpipe

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/blˈoʊpˌaɪp/ Listen

noun

Blowpipe n.

A tube for directing a jet of air into a fire or into the flame of a lamp or candle, so as to concentrate the heat on some object. Note: It is called a mouth blowpipe when used with the mouth; but for both chemical and industrial purposes, it is often worked by a bellows or other contrivance. The common mouth blowpipe is a tapering tube with a very small orifice at the end to be inserted in the flame. The oxyhydrogen blowpipe, invented by Dr. Hare in 1801, is an instrument in which oxygen and hydrogen, taken from separate reservoirs, in the proportions of two volumes of hydrogen to one of oxygen, are burned in a jet, under pressure. It gives a heat that will consume the diamond, fuse platinum, and dissipate in vapor, or in gaseous forms, most known substances.

A blowgun; a blowtube.

Blowpipe analysis (Chem.), analysis by means of the blowpipe.

Blowpipe reaction (Chem.), the characteristic behavior of a substance subjected to a test by means of the blowpipe.

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Etymology of 'Blowpipe'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Blowpipe" Quotes from Famous Books

... by hun, "one," and ahpu "lord of the blowpipe," or "blowpipe shooter." Dr Brinton translates it the "One Master of Power." He brings the Mexican name into harmony by rendering it "the flower of the day"—that is, the sun; and the Zapotec by rendering it "eye," meaning "the eye of the ...

— Day Symbols of the Maya Year • Cyrus Thomas

... published results counter to those announced by Needham in 1748, and obtained by methods so precise as to completely overthrow the convictions based upon the labours of his predecessor. Charging his flasks with organic infusions, he sealed their necks with the blowpipe, subjected them in this condition to the heat of boiling water, and subsequently exposed them to temperatures favourable to the development of life. The infusions continued unchanged for months, and when the flasks were subsequently ...

— Fragments of science, V. 1-2 • John Tyndall

... safe," she pointed out brightly. "It is not only proof against explosives, but between the plates is a lining that is proof against thermit and even that oxy-acetylene blowpipe by which you rescued me from the old boiler. It has a time lock, too, that will prevent its being opened at night, even if ...

— The Exploits of Elaine • Arthur B. Reeve

... tribesmen were hunters and fishers. The majority were given to paint their bodies and to pierce their ears, noses, and lower lips, in order to insert reeds, feathers, and similar savage ornaments. In the more tropical forest regions the blowpipe constituted one of the most formidable weapons. Bows and arrows were in general use, the points of these latter being of bone or hardened wood. The barbs of the spears were similarly contrived, many of these weapons being beautifully decorated ...

— South America • W. H. Koebel

... seldom a sixpence-worth of copper. Doctor Cacaphodel, the alchemist, returned to his laboratory with a prodigious fragment of granite, which he ground to powder, dissolved in acids, melted in the crucible and burnt with the blowpipe, and published the result of his experiments in one of the heaviest folios of the day. And for all these purposes the gem itself could not have answered better than the granite. The poet, by a somewhat similar mistake, made ...

— Twice Told Tales • Nathaniel Hawthorne

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