methyl alcohol

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noun Chemistry.

a colorless, volatile, water-soluble, poisonous liquid, CH4O, obtained by the destructive distillation of wood or the incomplete oxidation of natural gas, or produced synthetically from carbon monoxide and hydrogen, used chiefly as a solvent, a fuel, and an automobile antifreeze and in the synthesis of formaldehyde.

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Also called methanol, wood alcohol, wood spirit.

Origin of methyl alcohol

First recorded in 1840–50

Words nearby methyl alcohol

Methuselah, methyl, methyl acetate, methylacetic acid, methylal, methyl alcohol, methylamine, methylate, methylated spirits, methylation, methylbenzene

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

How to use methyl alcohol in a sentence

Alcohol and sugar, even in moderate amounts, are not only sinful but poisonous.
How Taryn Toomey’s ‘The Class’ Became New York’s Latest Fitness Craze|Lizzie Crocker|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Nobody ever says they want to become a cop so they can bust people for urinating in public or drinking alcohol on their stoop.
Shot Down During the NYPD Slowdown|Michael Daly|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Their logic: the sea-creature would come alive and drink up any remaining alcohol.
History's Craziest Hangover Cures|Justin Jones|December 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
You spice it with blues and skiffle music, and pickle it in alcohol and tobacco smoke.
The Greatest Rock Voice of All Time Belonged to Joe Cocker|Ted Gioia|December 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST

They want to change bad behaviors—tobacco, alcohol, using a seat belt, anything.
Can the U.S. Government Go Moneyball?|Peter Orszag, Jim Nussle|December 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The metal is then removed, and washed successively with very dilute sodium hydroxid solution, alcohol, and ether.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
Those stains which are dissolved in methyl-alcohol combine fixation with the staining process.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
It is a white crystalline fusible solid, insoluble in water, but soluble in alcohol and in solutions of the alkalies.
Elements of Agricultural Chemistry|Thomas Anderson
When this is boiled with alcohol, the glutin above referred to is extracted, and vegetable fibrine is left.
Elements of Agricultural Chemistry|Thomas Anderson
A few minutes later he reappeared with the glass, followed almost directly by the chauffeur with the alcohol and lime water.
Hooded Detective, Volume III No. 2, January, 1942|Various

British Dictionary definitions for methyl alcohol

methyl alcohol

noun

another name for methanol

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

Scientific definitions for methyl alcohol

methyl alcohol

See methanol.