powder
pronunciation
How to pronounce powder in British English:
UK [ˈpaʊdə(r)]
How to pronounce powder in American English:
US [ˈpaʊdər]
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- Noun:
- a solid substance in the form of tiny loose particles; a solid that has been pulverized
- a mixture of potassium nitrate, charcoal, and sulfur in a 75:15:10 ratio which is used in gunnery, time fuses, and fireworks
- any of various cosmetic or medical preparations dispensed in the form of a powder
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- Verb:
- apply powder to
- make into a powder by breaking up or cause to become dust
Word Origin
- powder
- powder: [13] The ultimate ancestor of powder is Latin pulvis ‘dust’ (source also of English pulverize [16]). This was related to Latin pollen ‘fine flour’ (source of English pollen), Latin puls ‘gruel’ (source of English poultice and pulse ‘legume’), and Greek póltos ‘gruel’.=> pollen, poultice, pulse, pulverize
- powder (n.)
- c. 1300, "ash, cinders; dust of the earth;" early 14c., "pulverized substance;" mid-14c., "medicinal powder;" late 14c. as "gunpowder," from Old French poudre "dust, powder; ashes; powdered substance" (13c.), earlier pouldre (11c.), from Latin pulverem (nominative pulvis) "dust" (see pollen). Specialized sense "gunpowder" is from late 14c. In the sense "powdered cosmetic," it is recorded from 1570s. In figurative sense, powder keg is first attested 1855. Powder room, euphemistic for "women's lavatory," is attested from 1936. Earlier it meant "place where gunpowder is loaded on a warship" (1620s). Powder horn attested by 1530s. Powder puff first recorded 1704; as a symbol of femaleness or effeminacy, in use from at least 1930s. Phrase take a powder "scram, vanish," is from 1920; it was a common phrase as a doctor's instruction, so perhaps from the notion of taking a laxative medicine or a sleeping powder, with the result that one has to leave in a hurry (or, on another guess, from a magician's magical powder, which made things disappear). Powder blue (1650s) was smelt used in laundering; as a color name from 1894.
- powder (v.)
- c. 1300, "to put powder on;" late 14c., "to make into powder," from Old French poudrer "to pound, crush to powder; strew, scatter," from poudre (see powder (n.)). Related: Powdered; powdering.
Example
- 1. Clap a little cornstarch or talcum powder between your hands .
- 2. Collect the powder as was done with mercury beads .
- 3. And one day the powder keg may explode .
- 4. He empties some foot powder into his pockets .
- 5. Techniques have also been developed that use powder and lasers .