sympathetic ink
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of sympathetic ink
First recorded in 1715–25
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A red sympathetic ink may be made in the following manner: Write with a very dilute solution of perchloride of iron—so dilute, indeed, that the writing will be invisible when dry.
So far as Massachusetts was concerned, the Declaration of Independence was interlined upon it in sympathetic ink.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 18, April, 1859 by Various
Miller, Professor W. H. Milk, to preserve; sizing paper with; used as sympathetic ink; to milk wild cows.
From The Art of Travel Shifts and Contrivances Available in Wild Countries by Galton, Francis, Sir
The first page looked as if it had been written over with some sort of sympathetic ink; but not a word could be deciphered.
From Saxe Holm's Stories by Jackson, Helen Hunt
Sure enough, it was the same in design as the fireplace which the heat had so unexpectedly brought out in sympathetic ink on the blank sheet of paper.
From The Romance of Elaine Sequel to "Exploits of Elaine" by Reeve, Arthur B. (Arthur Benjamin)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
