In 1511, leaders in Mecca believed coffee stimulated radical thinking and outlawed the drink. In 1524, the leaders overturned that order, and people could drink coffee again.
CYANOGEN
cyanogen
(noun) a colorless toxic gas with a pungent almond odor; has been used in chemical warfare
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
cyanogen (countable and uncountable, plural cyanogens)
(organic compound) The pseudohalogen (CN)2; a colourless, poisonous gas used as a rocket propellant, an insecticide and in chemical warfare.
Synonyms: ethanedinitrile, oxalonitrile, dicyanogen, nitriloacetonitrile
(chemistry) The radical -CN.
Source: Wiktionary
Cy*an"o*gen (s-n"-jn), n. Etym: [Gr. -gen: cf. F. cyanogène. So called because it produced blue dyes.] (Chem.)
Definition: A colorless, inflammable, poisonous gas, C2N2, with a peach- blossom odor, so called from its tendency to form blue compounds; obtained by heating ammonium oxalate, mercuric cyanide, etc. It is obtained in combination, forming an alkaline cyanide when nitrogen or a nitrogenous compound is strongly ignited with carbon and soda or potash. It conducts itself like a member of the halogen group of elements, and shows a tendency to form complex compounds. The name is also applied to the univalent radical, CN (the half molecule of cyanogen proper), which was one of the first compound radicals recognized.
Note: Cyanogen is found in the commercial substances, potassium cyanide, or prussiate of potash, yellow prussiate of potash, Prussian blue, Turnbull's blue, prussic acid, etc.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
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25 February 2025
ENDLESSLY
(adverb) (spatial sense) seeming to have no bounds; “the Nubian desert stretched out before them endlessly”
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