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mustard gas
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noun
an oily liquid, C4H8Cl2S, used as a chemical-warfare gas, blistering the skin and damaging the lungs, often causing blindness and death: introduced by the Germans in World War I.
QUIZ
THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?
Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.
Question 1 of 7
In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…
Also called dichlorodiethyl sulfide.
Origin of mustard gas
First recorded in 1915–20; so called from its mustard-like odor
Words nearby mustard gas
mustang, mustanger, mustard, mustard and cress, mustard family, mustard gas, mustard oil, mustard plaster, mustee, mustelid, musteline
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use mustard gas in a sentence
Superfund sites include former aluminum smelters that left the ground contaminated with arsenic, military bases that spilled jet fuel, benzene, and mustard gas into the soil, and even a plume of chlorine chemicals under Brooklyn.
The new infrastructure bill will fund pollution cleanup. But will it hold polluters accountable?|Philip Kiefer|November 9, 2021|Popular-SciencePlenty of nasty chemicals lurk out in the world that could harm a human being, whether they are sinister agents like mustard gas or industrial substances prone to combustion.
Wearable sensors may one day sniff out chemical weapons for soldiers|Rob Verger|June 22, 2021|Popular-Science
British Dictionary definitions for mustard gas
mustard gas
noun
an oily liquid vesicant compound used in chemical warfare. Its vapour causes blindness and burns. Formula: (ClCH 2 CH 2) 2 S
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 mustard gas
mustard gas
[ mÅs′tÉ™rd ]
An oily, volatile liquid that is corrosive to the skin and mucous membranes and causes severe, sometimes fatal respiratory damage. It was introduced in World War I as a chemical warfare agent. Chemical formula: C4H8Cl2S.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.