Word for the day: alcohol

alcohol |ˈalkəhɒl|  



DEFINITION

noun [ mass noun ]A colourless volatile flammable liquid which is the intoxicating constituent of wine, beer,spirits, and other drinks, and is also used as an industrial solvent and as fuel.

EXAMPLES

• Alternative names: ethanol, ethyl alcohol; chem. formula: C 2H 5OH.
• drink containing alcohol: he has not taken alcohol in twenty-five years. 
• [ count noun ] Chemistry any organic compound whose molecule contains one or more hydroxyl groups attached to a carbon atom.

ORIGINmid 16th cent.: French (earlier form of alcool), or from medieval Latin, from Arabic al-kuḥl ‘the kohl’. In early use the term referred to powders, specifically kohl, and especially those obtained by sublimation; later ‘a distilled or rectified spirit’ (mid 17th cent.).

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