In the 18th century, the Swedish government made coffee and its paraphernalia (including cups and dishes) illegal for its supposed ties to rebellious sentiment.
CAUSTIC
caustic, corrosive, erosive, vitriolic, mordant
(adjective) of a substance, especially a strong acid; capable of destroying or eating away by chemical action
acerb, acerbic, acid, acrid, bitter, blistering, caustic, sulfurous, sulphurous, virulent, vitriolic
(adjective) harsh or corrosive in tone; “an acerbic tone piercing otherwise flowery prose”; “a barrage of acid comments”; “her acrid remarks make her many enemies”; “bitter words”; “blistering criticism”; “caustic jokes about political assassination, talk-show hosts and medical ethics”; “a sulfurous denunciation”; “a vitriolic critique”
caustic
(noun) any chemical substance that burns or destroys living tissue
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Adjective
caustic (comparative more caustic, superlative most caustic)
Capable of burning, corroding or destroying organic tissue.
(of language, etc.) Sharp, bitter, cutting, biting, and sarcastic in a scathing way.
Synonyms
• (capable of destroying tissue): acidic, biting, burning, corrosive, searing
• (severe, sharp): bitchy, biting, catty, mordacious, nasty, sarcastic, scathing, sharp, spiteful, vitriolic
Noun
caustic (plural caustics)
Any substance or means which, applied to animal or other organic tissue, burns, corrodes, or destroys it by chemical action; an escharotic.
(optics, computer graphics) The envelope of reflected or refracted rays of light for a given surface or object.
(mathematics) The envelope of reflected or refracted rays for a given curve.
(informal, chemistry) Caustic soda.
Source: Wiktionary
Caus"tic, Caus"tic*al, a. Etym: [L. caustucs, Ge. Calm, Ink.]
1. Capable of destroying the texture of anything or eating away its substance by chemical action; burning; corrosive; searing.
2. Severe; satirical; sharp; as, a caustic remark. Caustic curve (Optics), a curve to which the ray of light, reflected or refracted by another curve, are tangents, the reflecting or refracting curve and the luminous point being in one plane.
– Caustic lime. See under Lime.
– Caustic potash, Caustic soda (Chem.), the solid hydroxides potash, KOH, and soda, NaOH, or solutions of the same.
– Caustic silver, nitrate of silver, lunar caustic.
– Caustic surface (Optics), a surface to which rays reflected or refracted by another surface are tangents. Caustic curves and surfaces are called catacaustic when formed by reflection, and diacaustic when formed by refraction.
Syn.
– Stinging; cutting; pungent; searching.
Cau"stic, n. Etym: [L. causticum (sc. medicamentum). See Caustic, a.]
1. Any substance or means which, applied to animal or other organic tissue, burns, corrodes, or destroys it by chemical action; an escharotic.
2. (Optics)
Definition: A caustic curve or caustic surface.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
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27 January 2025
FISSILE
(adjective) capable of being split or cleft or divided in the direction of the grain; “fissile crystals”; “fissile wood”
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