phlogiston
(noun) a hypothetical substance once believed to be present in all combustible materials and to be released during burning
Source: WordNet® 3.1
phlogiston (usually uncountable, plural phlogistons)
(chemistry, historical) The hypothetical fiery principle formerly assumed to be a necessary constituent of combustible bodies and to be given up by them in burning.
• postholing
Source: Wiktionary
Phlo*gis"ton, n. Etym: [NL., fr. Gr. Phlox.] (Old Chem.)
Definition: The hypothetical principle of fire, or inflammability, regarded by Stahl as a chemical element.
Note: This was supposed to be united with combustible (phlogisticated) bodies and to be separated from incombustible (dephlogisticated) bodies, the phenomena of flame and burning being the escape of phlogiston. Soot and sulphur were regarded as nearly pure phlogiston. The essential principle of this theory was, that combustion was a decomposition rather than the union and combination which it has since been shown to be.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
4 April 2025
(verb) kill by cutting the head off with a guillotine; “The French guillotined many Vietnamese while they occupied the country”
The first coffee-house in Mecca dates back to the 1510s. The beverage was in Turkey by the 1530s. It appeared in Europe circa 1515-1519 and was introduced to England by 1650. By 1675 the country had more than 3,000 coffee houses, and coffee had replaced beer as a breakfast drink.
