lye

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“
As soon as the caustic soda lye is absorbed, another portion is slowly added, and this is continued until the caustic soda or "strength" remains permanent and the soapy mass, refusing to absorb more, is thrown out of solution and grained.

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Definitions (15)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun The liquid obtained by leaching wood ashes.
  2. noun See potassium hydroxide.
  3. noun See sodium hydroxide.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (8)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • So I gave her the recipe for the crewel lye, and she took it back to use the caustic on the yarn. —  Question Quest
  • I used 250 grams of caustic soda from the cleaning section in our supermarkets in 3 cups of distilled water (because our bore water is hard) for the lye, and when that became lukewarm I added 3 cups of sunflower oil because I had no history of allergies with sunflowers and it was cheap. —  doggdot.us
  • If the lye was not strong enough, it was poured over fresh ashes. —  Home Life in Colonial Days
  • This lye was made by letting water drip over hard wood ashes in a barrel. —  Old Rail Fence Corners The A. B. C's. of Minnesota History
  • The effect of the boiling in the lye is the removal of the glutinous matter, which renders it possible to wind off the silk." —  The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume II
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English lie, from Old English lēag; see leu(ə)- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Formerly also lie, ley; from Middle English ley, from Anglo-Saxon leáh = Middle Dutch looghe, Dutch loog = Middle Low German Low German loge = Old High German louga, lauga, Middle High German louge, German lauge, lye; prob. akin to Icelandic laug, a warm bath, hence also a hot spring (much used in comp., e. g. laugar-dag (= Swedish lördag = Danish löverdag, Saturday), ‘bath-day,’ i. e. Saturday, the day appropriated by the Scandinavians to that exercise; laugar-aptan, laugar-nātt, Saturday evening, Saturday night, etc.).
 

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/lai/
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