inheritance powder en · NOUN
Etymology
So called because one person might murder another to gain an inheritance.
Meanings
-
(countable, historical, uncountable) Any of several poisons used for murder, but especially arsenic and, to a lesser extent, thallium.
`Arsenic was very popular in the old days [...] Inheritance powder, they called it. Pure, deadly, white, dissolves in any weak acid.'
2016, Kerry Greenwood, Murder and Mendelssohn, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 316:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| inheritance powders | Number=Plur | lexicographic |