lewisite

[loo-uh-sahyt]

noun

1. a pale yellow, odorless compound, C 2 H 2 AsCl 3 , used as a blister gas in World War I.

lewisite

/ ˈluːɪˌsaɪt /

noun

1. a colourless oily poisonous liquid with an odour resembling that of geraniums, having a powerful vesicant action and used as a war gas; 1-chloro-2-dichloroarsinoethene. Formula: ClCH:CHAsCl 2

Word History and Origins

Origin of lewisite¹

1920–25; named after Winford Lee Lewis (1878–1943), American chemist who developed it; -ite ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of lewisite¹

C20: named after W. L. Lewis (1878–1943), US chemist

Example Sentences

Or was it lewisite, a blistering agent that quickly penetrated the skin?

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Or one of the new blends such as ‘Winterlost’, a combination of nitrogen mustard and lewisite that featured a low freezing point to ensure effectiveness at the frigid Russian front?

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Reports vary as to when Dzerzhinsk factories stopped making lewisite, mustard gas and other chemicals designed as weapons of war.

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Sulfur mustard, lewisite and other chemical warfare compounds — as well as traces of the constituent chemicals that remain after the warfare agents break down over time — have also been detected and removed.

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When the war ended, the scientists revealed they had developed a new weapon called lewisite, an arsenic-based blister agent manufactured outside Cleveland at a top-secret factory nicknamed “the mousetrap” because of its elaborate security.

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