polywater

American

[pol-ee-waw-ter, -wot-er] / ˈpɒl iˌwɔ tər, -ˌwɒt ər /

noun

Chemistry.

a subtance mistakenly identified as a polymeric form of water, now known to be water containing ions from glass or quartz.

Etymology

Origin of polywater

First recorded in 1965–70; poly(meric) + water

Example Sentences

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See Examples For:

polywater

When Denis Rousseau, a postdoc at the University of Southern California, first heard about polywater, he was as intrigued as anyone.

From Slate ● Nov. 8, 2013

In 1961 another Soviet scientist picked the work up again and isolated for the first time the substance that would eventually be known as polywater.

From Slate ● Nov. 8, 2013

The spectrum of infrared light absorbed by polywater didn’t match any of those in a database of roughly 100,000 substances.

From Slate ● Nov. 8, 2013

Tests showed that the infrared spectrum absorbed by his sweat was virtually identical to the pattern produced by polywater.

From Slate ● Nov. 8, 2013

But whenever they attempted to get a reading, the laser burned the polywater into a black char.

From Slate ● Nov. 8, 2013

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023