empyreuma

noun plural -mata (-mətə)

the smell and taste associated with burning vegetable and animal matter

Word Origin

C17: from Greek, from empureuein to set on fire

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

Examples from the Web for empyreuma

Historical Examples

Empyreuma, em-pir-ū′ma, n. the burned smell and acrid taste which result when vegetable or animal substances are burned:—pl.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M)
Various
Empyreuma, the smell arising from organic matter when subjected to the action of fire, but not enough to carbonize it entirely.
The New Gresham Encyclopedia
Various
Its colour is yellow, and it smells and tastes a little of the empyreuma, occasioned by torrefying the Yelks.
Elements of the Theory and Practice of Chymistry, 5th ed.
Pierre Joseph Macquer

empyreuma

Word Origin

Examples from the Web for empyreuma

Historical Examples

Empyreuma, em-pir-ū′ma, n. the burned smell and acrid taste which result when vegetable or animal substances are burned:—pl.

Empyreuma, the smell arising from organic matter when subjected to the action of fire, but not enough to carbonize it entirely.

Its colour is yellow, and it smells and tastes a little of the empyreuma, occasioned by torrefying the Yelks.