napalm
pronunciation
How to pronounce napalm in British English:
UK [ˈneɪpɑ:m]
How to pronounce napalm in American English:
US [ˈneˌpɑm]
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- Noun:
- gasoline jelled with aluminum soaps; highly incendiary liquid used in fire bombs and flame throwers
Word Origin
- napalm
- napalm: [20] Napalm, a jelly-like substance, is made by thickening petrol with the aluminium salts of naphthenic acid and palmitic acid, and the term napalm was coined in the early 1940s from the first syllables of naphthenic and palmitic (the former is from naphtha [16], ultimately of Greek origin, the latter from Latin palma (see PALM), because the acid is obtained from palm oil). It was used in World War II, but it was the Korean War that really brought it to public attention, and it is from then that the use of napalm as a verb dates.
- napalm (n.)
- 1942, from na(phthenic) palm(itic) acids, used in manufacture of the chemical that thickens gasoline. The verb is 1950, from the noun. Related: Napalmed; napalming.
Example
- 1. The three ways to make napalm .
- 2. The napalm won 't fire !
- 3. The three ways to make napalm : one , you can mix equal parts of gasoline and frozen orange juice concentrate .
- 4. Nick ut / associated presskim phuc , 9 , running after an aerial napalm attack . Vietnam , june 8 , 1972 . See slide 1 .
- 5. Using the fine word " resistance " in reference to the rabble of a cornered tyrant seems to me to be a blow to common sense , particularly when we have heard reports that point to the possession by this tyrant of the dirty weapon par excellence , napalm .