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calomel

American  
[kal-uh-mel, -muhl] / ˈkæl əˌmɛl, -məl /

noun

Pharmacology.
  1. a white, tasteless powder, Hg 2 Cl 2 , used chiefly as a purgative and fungicide.


calomel British  
/ -məl, ˈkæləˌmɛl /

noun

  1. a colourless tasteless powder consisting chiefly of mercurous chloride, used medicinally, esp as a cathartic. Formula: Hg 2 Cl 2

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of calomel

1670–80; < New Latin calomelas coined from Greek kaló ( s ) fair + mélas black; allegedly so called because its original preparation involved turning black powder into white

Example Sentences

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Their patients rarely suffered any mercury poisoning from the treatments because calomel has a very low solubility, as suggested by its very small Ksp:

From Textbooks Feb. 14, 2019

Although most mercury compounds are now known to be poisonous, eighteenth-century physicians used calomel as a medication.

From Textbooks Feb. 14, 2019

Castor oil and calomel are drastic cathartics, should be taken only on advice of a physician.

From Time Magazine Archive

The Libman treatment: a dose of calomel, a saline purge, enemas of carbonate of soda, instillations of colon bacilli in the large bowel and bicarbonate of soda night and morning.

From Time Magazine Archive

Eliza was more concerned about the dwindling supply of medicines, the mercury and calomel.

From "Fever 1793" by Laurie Halse Anderson

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