CORROSIVE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Corrosive

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/kərˈoʊsɪv/ Listen

adjective

Corrosive adj.

Eating away; having the power of gradually wearing, changing, or destroying the texture or substance of a body; as, the corrosive action of an acid. "Corrosive liquors." "Corrosive famine."

Having the quality of fretting or vexing. "Care is no cure, but corrosive."

Corrosive sublimate (Chem.), mercuric chloride, HgCl2; so called because obtained by sublimation, and because of its harsh irritating action on the body tissue. Usually it is in the form of a heavy, transparent, crystalline substance, easily soluble, and of an acrid, burning taste. It is a virulent poison, a powerful antiseptic, and an excellent antisyphilitic; called also mercuric bichloride. It is to be carefully distinguished from calomel, the mild chloride of mercury.

noun

Corrosive n.

That which has the quality of eating or wearing away gradually. "(Corrosives) act either directly, by chemically destroying the part, or indirectly by causing inflammation and gangrene."

That which has the power of fretting or irritating. "Such speeches... are grievous corrosives."

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Etymology of 'Corrosive'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Corrosive" Quotes from Famous Books

... dressings. He finds cases unite in from three to ten days. Dr. Bernheim warns us against using antiseptics on infants or young children, in connection with the after-dressing of circumcision. Neither phenic acid, corrosive sublimate, nor iodoform are well borne by these young subjects, and he has seen serious results follow upon as light an application as a 1/100 solution of phenic acid. In a number of cases he reports operating with the galvano-cautery of Chardin, instead ...

— History of Circumcision from the Earliest Times to the Present - Moral and Physical Reasons for its Performance • Peter Charles Remondino

... accompanied by a sudden burst of steam, if the water falls upon the acid. But in a small quantity as this, there is no possible danger of accident if the acid is poured on the water. Sulphuric acid should be closely stoppered and used with care, as it is corrosive, eating holes in cotton or linen fabrics. With ordinary precautions it can be used ...

— Hand-Loom Weaving - A Manual for School and Home • Mattie Phipps Todd

... and that do not impress as high lights added for effect, but as organic parts of the whole. It scintillates with wit, though it lacks humor. It is the just medium of expression for his characters, those types of modern intellectuals, affected by the corrosive skepticism of the period and in turn buoyed by the light-hearted temperament and depressed by the passive melancholy that are indigenous to Vienna. It is this literary excellence that renders works like Literature (1902) and The Green Cockatoo (1899) enjoyable to readers to whom ...

— The German Classics, v. 20 - Masterpieces of German Literature • Various

... been. Upon the desolate spot, where fate had placed me, I conceived myself far more happy than many, who, for ignominious crimes, were doomed to drag out their lives in solitary confinement with conscience ever biting as a corrosive canker. ...

— The Jacket (The Star-Rover) • Jack London

... stroke, upon his fragile body, until the troop of furies close upon him with Despair! Triumph! triumph!—the plan is complete—difficult and masterly beyond compare—sure—safe; for then (with a sneer) the dissecting knife can find no trace of wound or of corrosive poison. ...

— The Works of Frederich Schiller in English • Frederich Schiller

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