giant powder

American  

noun

1. dynamite composed of nitroglycerin and kieselguhr.

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giant powder British  

noun

1. dynamite composed of trinitroglycerine absorbed in kieselguhr

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Etymology

Origin of giant powder

An Americanism dating back to 1870–75

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

giant powder

I sense there is a giant powder field that no one has touched yet, and I am going after it.

From Forbes ● Nov. 2, 2011

And by the way, Morris," called Glover—Blood already twenty feet away was scrambling down the path—"if Ed Smith's got any giant powder borrow sticks enough to spring thirty or forty holes with, will you?

From The Daughter of a Magnate by Frank H. (Frank Hamilton) Spearman

He'll have some detonators lying loose, too—I've heard he uses giant powder.

From The Boy Ranchers of Puget Sound by Harold Bindloss

This undertaking having been very satisfactorily accomplished by means of dynamite or giant powder, another improvement in the harbor had been also undertaken with great success.

From All Around the Moon by Edward Roth

Then she suddenly remembered that she had once heard the lad speak of using "giant powder," or some such explosive in his work of the underground passage.

From Reels and Spindles A Story of Mill Life by Frank T. (Frank Thayer) Merrill