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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

lunar caustic en · NOUN

Etymology

From lunar (“[alchemical] silver”) + caustic.

Meanings

  1. (obsolete, uncountable) Silver nitrate fused into a stick and used for cauterizing and as a disinfectant before modern antibiotics.
    • However, the doctor soon relieved his sufferings, though the treatment was severe; nothing short of an application of lunar caustic allayed the inflammation. 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 78:

Synonyms

infernal stone · lapis infernalis

Translations (4)

eo lapiso (silver nitrate fused into a stick) · bg адски камък (silver nitrate fused into a stick) · de Höllenstein (silver nitrate fused into a stick) · fi laapispuikko (silver nitrate fused into a stick)