Prince Rupert's drop

British  

noun

1. a glass bead in the shape of a teardrop, a by-product of the glass-making process, formed by molten glass falling into water. The body of the drop can withstand great force, for example a hammer blow, but the whole will explode if the tail is nipped or the surface scored

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Etymology

Origin of Prince Rupert's drop

C17: thought to have been introduced to England by Prince Rupert, the German-born nephew of Charles I of England

Example Sentences

In other words, the berg becomes like a huge Prince Rupert's drop, which, as every one knows, is a drop formed by allowing molten glass to fall into cold water.

From Scientific American • Apr. 10, 2012

Do you remember what a Prince Rupert’s drop is?

From Aladdin & Co. A Romance of Yankee Magic by Quick, Herbert

Its advent was the snap of that bright Prince Rupert's drop; and in a moment—Dust.

From Love and Mr. Lewisham by Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)

But if we try the same experiment on the imaginative painter's work, and break off the merest stem or twig of it, it all goes to pieces like a Prince Rupert's drop.

From Modern Painters Volume II (of V) by Ruskin, John

We have here a Prince Rupert's drop, but one whose diameter may rise to fifty metres, and which consists not of glass but of ice.

From The Voyage of the Vega round Asia and Europe, Volume I and Volume II by Leslie, Alexander, fl. 1879-1882