lyddite

[ lid-ahyt ]

nounChemistry.
  1. a high explosive consisting chiefly of picric acid.

Origin of lyddite

1
1885–90; named after Lydd, borough in SE England near the site where it was first tested; see -ite1

Words Nearby lyddite

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use lyddite in a sentence

  • We have also a five-inch lyddite gun (Clements brought it), which sent up huge clouds of brown dust where the shell struck.

    In the Ranks of the C.I.V. | Erskine Childers
  • They made very light of lyddite, and laughed at the legend that the fumes are dangerous.

    In the Ranks of the C.I.V. | Erskine Childers
  • Here a corner of one of the massive entrance pillars had been sharply severed off by a British lyddite shell.

    South African Memories | Lady Sarah Wilson
  • A lyddite missile had done the deed; no "common" shell, we argued, could have created such a noise.

  • Such faces I did not think could be worn by human beings; they were orange with lyddite smoke.

British Dictionary definitions for lyddite

lyddite

/ (ˈlɪdaɪt) /


noun
  1. an explosive consisting chiefly of fused picric acid

  2. a dense black variety of chert, formerly used as a touchstone

Origin of lyddite

1
C19: (sense 1) named after Lydd, a town in Kent near which the first tests were made

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