Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Corrosive

Cor·ro′sive (k?r-r?′s?v), a. [Cf. F. corrosif.] 1. Eating away; having the power of gradually wearing, changing, or destroying the texture or substance of a body; as, the corrosive action of an acid. "Corrosive liquors." Grew. "Corrosive famine." Thomson.

2. Having the quality of fretting or vexing.

Care is no cure, but corrosive. Shak.

Corrosive sublimate (Chem.), mercuric chloride, HgCl2; so called because obtained by sublimation, and because of its harsh irritating action on the body tissue. Usually it is in the form of a heavy, transparent, crystalline substance, easily soluble, and of an acrid, burning taste. It is a virulent poison, a powerful antiseptic, and an excellent antisyphilitic; called also mercuric bichloride. It is to be carefully distinguished from calomel, the mild chloride of mercury.

Cor·ro′sive, n. 1. That which has the quality of eating or wearing away gradually.

[Corrosives] act either directly, by chemically destroying the part, or indirectly by causing inflammation and gangrene. Dunglison.

2. That which has the power of fretting or irritating.

Such speeches . . . are grievous corrosives. Hooker.

— Cor·ro′sive·ly, adv. — Cor·ro′sive·ness, n.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.