oil of vitriol
Sulfuric acidSulfuric acid.
» Sulfuric acid was once known as "oil of vitriol."
Früher wurde Schwefelsäure als „Vitriolöl“ bezeichnet. — Pfirsichbaeumchen
Schwefelsäure nannte man früher auch "Vitriolöl". — Manfredo
shake0615 · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
1 senses(dated, uncountable)Sulfuric acid.
- (H2SO4) a highly corrosive acid made from sulfur dioxide; widely used in the chemical industry
Examples
2 sentencesSulfuric acid was once known as "oil of vitriol."
deFrüher wurde Schwefelsäure als „Vitriolöl“ bezeichnet. — Pfirsichbaeumchen
Sulfuric acid was already known to medieval alchemists as oil of vitriol.
deAls Vitriolöl war Schwefelsäure schon den Alchimisten des Mittelalters bekannt. — Pfirsichbaeumchen
Origin
So called from its oily consistency and from its forming the "vitriols" or sulfates. ThisSo called from its oily consistency and from its forming the "vitriols" or sulfates. This term was coined by the 8th-century alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan, the chemical's probable discoverer.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Synonyms
3 synonyms- (H2SO4) a highly corrosive acid made from sulfur dioxide; widely used in the chemical industry:vitriolsulfuric acidsulphuric acid
Lessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.