lachrymatory
Americanadjective
noun
-
lachrymatories
plural
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of lachrymatory
1650–60; (noun) < Medieval Latin lachrymātōrium, equivalent to lachrymā ( re ) to shed tears + -tōrium -tory 2; (adj.) < Medieval Latin lachrymātōrius, equivalent to lachrymā ( re ) + -tōrius -tory 1; see lachrymal
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Onions make us teary because a reaction in the onion releases a chemical called lachrymatory factor, or LF, that irritates our eyes.
From New York Times ● Sep. 5, 2017
"What he was proposing to use in Mesopotamia was lachrymatory gas, which is essentially tear gas, not mustard gas."
From BBC ● Jan. 21, 2015
Again, walking into gas "pockets" up a trench one has been stopped as by a fierce blow across the eyes, the lachrymatory effect was so piercing and sudden.
From The Riddle of the Rhine; chemical strategy in peace and war by Victor Lefebure
The goggles are intended for use after lachrymatory bombardments only, in cases where the irritant gas persists in the neighborhood.
From Military Instructors Manual by Oliver Schoonmaker
With lachrymatory gases the times after which shelters can be used without discomfort may be considerably longer than those mentioned above.
From Military Instructors Manual by Oliver Schoonmaker
At one point, Christle discovers that the Victorians did not actually collect their tears in glass vials, called lachrymatories; nonetheless, the image gives her a metaphor for her process.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 8, 2020
Lachrymatories.—There is absolutely no authority in any ancient author for this name, and the best scholars speak of these vessels as the bottles usually called lachrymatories, &c.
From Notes and Queries, Number 57, November 30, 1850 by Various
They are probably some of the most ancient specimens of ornamental glass existing, excepting, of course, the vases and lachrymatories of the classic times.
From Visits To Monasteries in the Levant by Robert Curzon
This, possibly the remains of lachrymatories, was very different from the modern bottle-green, which resembles the old Roman.
From The Land of Midian — Volume 1 by Sir Richard Francis Burton
The opening of ancient baths, burial vaults, &c. has led to the finding of tesselated pavements, coins, urns, rings, lachrymatories, seals, monumental inscriptions, medals, statues, chains, sacrificing vessels, &c.
From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 12, No. 343, November 29, 1828 by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
