bromide
pronunciation
How to pronounce bromide in British English:
UK [ˈbrəʊmaɪd]
How to pronounce bromide in American English:
US [ˈbroʊmaɪd]
-
- Noun:
- any of the salts of hydrobromic acid; used as a sedative
- a trite or obvious remark
- a sedative in the form of sodium or potassium bromide
Word Origin
- bromide
- bromide: [19] Potassium bromide is used as a sedative, and it was that which inspired the American humorist Gelett Burgess’s book Are You A Bromide? (1906), in which he metaphoricized bromide as a ‘dull conventional person’. In British English it is the more abstract figurative sense ‘trite or conventional remark’ that has caught on. Bromide was based on bromine [19], the name of a liquid element, which in turn was formed from French brome. The element was so christened, from Greek brōmos ‘stench’, because of its highly irritant and unpleasant smell.
- bromide (n.)
- compound of bromine and another metal or radical, 1836, from bromine, the pungent, poisonous element, + -ide. Used as a sedative; figurative sense of "dull, conventional person or trite saying" popularized by U.S. humorist Frank Gelett Burgess (1866-1951) in his book "Are You a Bromide?" (1906). Related: Bromidic.
Example
- 1. Mlf : phase out of methyl bromide in china .
- 2. Test method for assay of normal-propyl bromide content .
- 3. Testing of gaseous fuels and other gases ; determination of hydrogen cyanide content ; bromide cyanogen method .
- 4. Buy ipratropium bromide , sell ipratropium bromide .
- 5. Image slideshow : nasal spray ipratropium bromide ipratropium 0.03 .