mercaptan
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of mercaptan
1825–35; < Latin, short for phrase corpus mercurium captāns body capturing quicksilver
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.
Piedmont Natural Gas said the cleanup company, Legacy Environmental Services, was destroying mercaptan tanks north of downtown Charlotte that were mistakenly reported as empty, The Charlotte Observer reported.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 14, 2022
The CAA has also ordered the gas companies to add the pungent ethyl mercaptan to the gas cylinders to make it easier to smell gas leaks.
From Reuters • Dec. 8, 2021
Whether hydrogen sulfide or mercaptan, Southern California residents have often used terms like “rotting” or “rotten” to describe funky smells.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 22, 2021
A few pools of ethyl mercaptan the size of the reservoir in the middle of Central Park could, if spread evenly throughout the atmosphere, make the entire planet smell like a gas leak.
From New York Times • Feb. 17, 2020
An average man can detect just a few molecules of butyl mercaptan, and most of us can sense the presence of musk in vanishingly small amounts.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
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.
