Alcohol definitions and example sentences on Wordnik

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Definitions (23)

American Heritage Dictionary (4)

noun A colorless volatile flammable liquid, C₂H₅OH, synthesized or obtained by fermentation of sugars and starches and widely used, either pure or denatured, as a solvent and in drugs, cleaning solutions, explosives, and intoxicating beverages. Also called ethanol, ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol.
noun Intoxicating liquor containing alcohol.
noun Any of a series of hydroxyl compounds, the simplest of which are derived from saturated hydrocarbons, have the general formula C_nH_2n+1OH, and include ethanol and methanol.

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Century Dictionary (16)

A liquid, ethyl hydrate, C₂H₅OH, formed by the fermentation of aqueous sugar-solutions, or by the destructive distillation of organic bodies, as wood. Absolute or pure alcohol is a colorless mobile liquid, of a pleasant spirituous smell and burning taste, of specific gravity. 793 at 60° F., and boiling at 173° F. It is inflammable, and burns without smoke or residue, the products of combustion being carbon dioxid and water. At very low temperatures it becomes viscid, but does not congeal above—200°, and for this reason is used for filling thermometers to register low temperatures. It mixes with water in all proportions, is a general solvent for organic principles, bases, resins, oils, etc., and as such has extensive use in the arts and in medicine. Different grades of alcohol are sometimes designated in trade according to the source from which they are derived, as grain-alcohol, prepared from maize or other grain; root-alcohol, from potatoes and beets; moss-alcohol, which is made in large quantity from reindeer-moss and Iceland moss in Norway, Sweden, and Russia. Alcohol is a powerful stimulant and antiseptic, and in some dilute form is used as an intoxicating beverage among all races and conditions of people. Proof spirit contains 49.3 per cent. by weight of pure alcohol, or 57.1 per cent. by volume. Underproof and overproof are designations of weaker and stronger solutions. Distilled liquors or ardent spirits, whisky, brandy, gin, etc., contain 40 to 50 per cent. of absolute alcohol, wines from 7 or 8 to 20, ale and porter from 5 to 7, and beer from 2 to 10.
In popular usage, any liquor containing this spirit.
In organic chemistry, the general name of a series of compounds which may be regarded as derived from the normal hydrocarbons by replacing hydrogen with the group OH, or hydroxyl, and which correspond to the hydroxids of the metals. Such compounds are classed as primary, secondary, or tertiary alcohols, according to their constitution and the products of their decomposition. Primary alcohols are regarded as containing the group CH₂OH, and by oxidation yield aldehyde and ultimately an acid of the same carbon series. Secondary alcohols are regarded as containing the group CHOH, and by oxidation do not yield aldehyde, but a ketone, which on further oxidation breaks up into two acids of a lower carbon series. Tertiary alcohols are regarded as having the group COH, and break up at once on oxidation into two acids of a lower carbon series.

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Examples (41)

Jasin Wright, 29, of Adrian ultimately pleaded guilty to a charge of furnishing alcohol to minors, but prosecutors dropped a felony charge of furnishing alcohol causing death saying they could not prove that the alcohol was a direct cause of Pietras 'death. — Custom Search
Sgt. MacDougall said he could not go into details as to the complainant or whether alcohol was a factor as there are privacy issues and no charges were laid. — The Labradorian: News
The cause of the crash and whether alcohol was a factor are under investigation. is a one-stop place for the latest in Nevada and national politics.
Just because the alcohol was available didn't mean you had to consume it.
The state government's fleet of flex-fuel vehicles runs on gasoline, encountering ethanol fuel only at filling stations where the alcohol has been added to medium-grade petroleum as an octane booster. — billingsgazette.com

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Etymologies (2)

American Heritage Dictionary (1)

Medieval Latin, fine metallic powder, especially of antimony, from Arabic al-kuḥl : al-, the + kuḥl, powder of antimony; see kḥl in Semitic roots.

Century Dictionary (1)

Formerly also spelled alcohole, alkohol, from French alcohol, now alcool, = Spanish Portuguese alcohol = Italian alcohol, alcool, alcoole, from Middle Latin alcohol, orig. in the sense of a fine, impalpable powder, the black sulphid of antimony, afterward extended to any fine powder produced by trituration or sublimation, then to essence, quintessence, or spirit, especially the rectified spirits of wine, and finally used as at present; from Arabic al-koh'l, from al, the, + koh'l, the fine powder of antimony used in the East to paint the eyebrows, from kahala, stain, paint.

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