lewisite

American  

[loo-uh-sahyt] / ˈlu əˌsaɪt /

noun

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

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lewisite British  

/ 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

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Etymology

Origin of lewisite

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

Example Sentences

One woman, a service trainee for the US Air Force, reported being ordered to run through a cloud of the organoarsenic compound lewisite in a “gas acquaintance procedure” during flight training in Houston, Texas.

From Nature • Jan. 10, 2017

Because no one knew what to do with it, the U.S. supply of lewisite was dumped in the sea off Baltimore after the Armistice.

From Time Magazine Archive

A lewisite plant was erected at Willoughby, Ohio, surrounded by a high fence and heavy guards.

From Time Magazine Archive

Working at Catholic University in 1917, Lewis compounded lewisite from a poisonous black tar, produced it in quantity and turned it over to the Army's Chemical Warfare Section.

From Time Magazine Archive

Heavier and more persistent than mustard gas, lewisite is an arsenic compound which smells like geraniums, bears the scientific name of beta-chlorvinyldichlorarsine.

From Time Magazine Archive