spirit of hartshorn

American  

Or spirits of hartshorn

noun

Chemistry.

1. a colorless, pungent, suffocating, aqueous solution of about 28.5 percent ammonia gas: used chiefly as a detergent, for removing stains and extracting certain vegetable coloring agents, and in the manufacture of ammonium salts.

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Etymology

Origin of spirit of hartshorn

First recorded in 1675–85

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

spirit of hartshorn

We have grappled with "spirit," and fixed its meaning in a chemical sense; we have no longer "spirit" of salt, or "spirit" of hartshorn.

From The Art of Perfumery And Methods of Obtaining the Odors of Plants by George William Septimus Piesse

The corridores, arcades, and even staircases of their most elegant palaces, are depositories of nastiness, and indeed in summer smell as strong as spirit of hartshorn.

From Travels through France and Italy by T. (Tobias) Smollett

He took, without considerable relief, gum kino, sanguis diaconis melted with alum, tincture of cantharides, isinglass, gum arabic, crabs eyes, spirit of hartshorn, and eat ten or fifteen oysters thrice a day.

From Zoonomia, Vol. I Or, the Laws of Organic Life by Erasmus Darwin

I was at this time sensible of no pain, and little uneasiness; I can give you no better idea of my situation than by repeating my simile of the bowl of spirit of hartshorn.

From Following the Equator, Part 6 by Mark Twain

In slight cases of this kind, some think the continued free use of spirit of hartshorn, given internally, and applied externally to the affected parts, is the best remedy of any that is yet known.

From The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, Adapted to the Use of Private Families by Mary Eaton