bleaching powder

American  

noun

Chemistry.

1. a white powder that decomposes on contact with water and has the characteristic odor of gaseous chlorine: regarded, when dry, as a mixed calcium hypochlorite-chloride, used as a commercial bleach for wood pulp, textiles, oils, and soaps, and in laundering as a decolorizer and disinfectant.

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bleaching powder British  

noun

1. Also called: chloride of lime.   chlorinated lime.  a white powder with the odour of chlorine, consisting of chlorinated calcium hydroxide with an approximate formula CaCl(OCl).4H 2 O. It is used in solution as a bleaching agent and disinfectant

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Etymology

Origin of bleaching powder

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bleaching powder

According to eyewitnesses, the chemical warehouse stored bleaching powder, plastic and hydrogen peroxide, all of which can intensify fires.

From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2025

Victims of mustard gas must have their clothes carefully removed, must be "decontaminated" with soap, clean water and sodium bicarbonate, rubbed with a paste of bleaching powder and water, successful antidote for the oily gas.

From Time Magazine Archive

This operation, which is peculiar to linen bleaching, consists in suspending the hanks from a square roller into bleaching powder solution contained in a shallow stone trough.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 1 "Bisharin" to "Bohea" by Various

Chloride of lime is commonly known as bleaching powder, and its effects on clothes or on any substance which can be eroded is well known.

From Rural Hygiene by Ogden, Henry N. (Henry Neely)

The Javelle water which they had used was made of bleaching powder and washing soda.

From Common Science by Ritchie, John W. (John Woodside)