Dictionary

kieselguhr en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈkiːzəlɡʊə/ (UK)

Etymology

Borrowed from German Kieselguhr, older spelling of Kieselgur, from Kiesel (“pebble, gravel”) + Gur (“guhr”).

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) Diatomaceous earth, a kind of soft rock containing the remains of diatoms; it absorbs nitroglycerine and is used to manufacture dynamite.
   • It was the only name anybody seemed to know him by, “Kieselguhr” being a kind of fine clay, used to soak up nitroglycerine and stabilize it into dynamite. 2006, Thomas Pynchon, “Iceland Spar”, in Against the Day, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 171:

Forms