cordite

American  

[kawr-dahyt] / ˈkɔr daɪt /

noun

1. a smokeless, slow-burning powder composed of 30 to 58 percent nitroglycerin, 37 to 65 percent nitrocellulose, and 5 to 6 percent mineral jelly.

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cordite British  

/ ˈkɔːdaɪt /

noun

1. any of various explosive materials used for propelling bullets, shells, etc, containing cellulose nitrate, sometimes mixed with nitroglycerine, plasticizers, and stabilizers

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cordite Scientific  

/ kôr′dīt′ /

1. An explosive powder consisting of nitrocellulose, nitroglycerin, and petroleum jelly, used as a propellant for guns. It does not generate smoke and is shaped into cords.

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Etymology

Origin of cordite

First recorded in 1885–90; cord + -ite ¹, so called from its cordlike form

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cordite

And though the characters in this kind of farce are usually married, it seems that over the course of 20 years one girlfriend would have asked the other, “Is that cordite you’re wearing?”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

He had worked at a cordite factory in India before becoming superintendent at the huge south of Scotland site - a position he held until 1921.

From BBC ● Apr. 2, 2021

More the whiff of damp squibs than cordite.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 1, 2020

Adams is beholden to multiple constituencies, and for some faction of supporters his charisma has always derived, at least in part, from the whiff of cordite.

From The New Yorker ● Mar. 9, 2015

With massive blows he shaped it and smoothed it, the cordite smell of smashed rocks joining the smoke in the nostrils of the two spies, watching from high up.

From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman