pyroligneous acid

American  

noun

Chemistry.

1. a yellowish, acidic, water-soluble liquid, containing about 10 percent acetic acid, obtained by the destructive distillation of wood: used for smoking meats.

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pyroligneous acid British  

noun

1. Also called: wood vinegar.  the crude reddish-brown acidic liquid obtained by the distillation of wood and containing acetic acid, methanol, and acetone

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Etymology

Origin of pyroligneous acid

First recorded in 1780–90

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pyroligneous acid

Take one ounce of finely-pulverized charcoal, pour on it one ounce of pyroligneous acid, then add a pint of water.

From The American Reformed Cattle Doctor by Dadd, George

The usual way of preventing the decomposition is by processes scarcely less hurtful—by the addition of salt, pyroligneous acid, saltpetre, lime, etc.

From Vegetable Diet: As Sanctioned by Medical Men, and by Experience in All Ages Including a System of Vegetable Cookery by Alcott, William A. (William Andrus)

But two may be made to answer by the use of what is called "liquid smoke" whose other name is crude pyroligneous acid.

From Dishes & Beverages of the Old South by McCulloch-Williams, Martha

This may be done by causing the animal to inhale the fumes of pyroligneous acid, and by the internal use of bayberry bark.

From The American Reformed Cattle Doctor by Dadd, George

Pyrox′yle, Pyrox′ylin, -e, gun-cotton.—Pyroxylic spirit, a mixture of acetone, methyl-alcohol, acetate of methyl, &c., obtained by the destructive distillation of wood in the manufacture of pyroligneous acid.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) by Various