oil of vitriol
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of oil of vitriol
First recorded in 1570–80
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.
“You carried oil of vitriol knocking about in a sack? It is infinitely dangerous, my boy.”
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
It may be dissolved in sulphuric acid or oil of vitriol, thereby making an indigo extract.
From Vegetable Dyes Being a Book of Recipes and Other Information Useful to the Dyer by Mairet, Ethel M.
Coleridge said in reply, "You have poured oil into the raw and festering wound of an old friend, Cottle, but it is oil of vitriol!"
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 88, February, 1865 by Various
A. The action of iron or zinc scraps on diluted oil of vitriol is among the best.
I have recommended the use of chalk and oil of vitriol as the cheapest, and, upon the whole, the best materials for this purpose.
From Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air by Priestley, Joseph
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.
