Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A colorless caustic fuming liquid, CH2O2, used in dyeing and finishing textiles and paper and in manufacturing fumigants, insecticides, and refrigerants.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun organic chemistry The
simplest carboxylic acid , HCOOH, acolourless ,corrosive liquid with asharp odour ; it is present in thestings ofants ,bees andnettles , and isprepared industrially by theoxidation ofmethanol orformaldehyde ; it has someindustrial uses, and itsesters , theformates are used inperfumes .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a colorless pungent fuming vesicatory liquid acid HCOOH found naturally in ants and many plants or made catalytically from carbon monoxide and steam; used in finishing textiles and paper and in the manufacture of insecticides and fumigants
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[From its natural occurrence in ants.]
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Examples
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ruzuzu commented on the word formic acid
From the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English:
"adj. a colorless, mobile liquid, HCO.OH, of a sharp, acid taste, occurring naturally in ants, nettles, pine needles, etc., and produced artifically in many ways, as by the oxidation of methyl alcohol, by the reduction of carbonic acid or the destructive distillation of oxalic acid. It is the first member of the fatty acids in the paraffin series, and is homologous with acetic acid."
February 1, 2017