Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
FULMINATE
fulminate
(noun) a salt or ester of fulminic acid
fulminate
(verb) cause to explode violently and with loud noise
fulminate
(verb) come on suddenly and intensely; “the disease fulminated”
fulminate, rail
(verb) criticize severely; “He fulminated against the Republicans’ plan to cut Medicare”; “She railed against the bad social policies”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Verb
fulminate (third-person singular simple present fulminates, present participle fulminating, simple past and past participle fulminated)
(intransitive, figuratively) To make a verbal attack.
(transitive, figuratively) To issue as a denunciation.
(intransitive) To thunder or make a loud noise.
(transitive, now rare) To strike with lightning; to cause to explode.
Synonyms
• (verbal attack): berate, condemn, criticize, denounce, denunciate, vilify
Noun
fulminate (plural fulminates)
(chemistry) Any salt or ester of fulminic acid, mostly explosive.
Source: Wiktionary
Ful"mi*nate, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Fulminated; p. pr. & vb. n. Fulminating.] Etym: [L. fulminatus, p. p. of fulminare to lighten, strike with lightning, fr. fulmen thunderbolt, fr. fulgere to shine. See Fulgent, and cf. Fulmine.]
1. To thunder; hence, to make a loud, sudden noise; to detonate; to explode with a violent report.
2. To issue or send forth decrees or censures with the assumption of supreme authority; to thunder forth menaces.
Ful"mi*nate, v. t.
1. To cause to explode. Sprat.
2. To utter or send out with denunciations or censures; -- said especially of menaces or censures uttered by ecclesiastical authority. They fulminated the most hostile of all decrees. De Quincey.
Ful"mi*nate, n. Etym: [Cf. P. fulminate. See Fulminate, v. i.] (Chem.) (a) A salt of fulminic acid. See under Fulminic. (b) A fulminating powder. Fulminate of gold, an explosive compound of gold; -- called also fulminating gold, and aurum fulminans.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
17 March 2025
PARAMAGNET
(noun) magnet made of a substance whose magnetization is proportional to the strength of the magnetic field applied to it
Coffee Trivia
