Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An aluminum soap of various fatty acids that when mixed with gasoline makes a firm jelly used in some bombs and in flamethrowers.
- n. This jelly.
- n. An incendiary mixture of polystyrene, benzene, and gasoline.
Wiktionary
- n. A highly flammable, viscous substance, (designed to stick to the body while burning), used in warfare to cause widespread death and destruction, especially in wooded areas.
- v. transitive To spray or attack an area using such substance.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A highly incediary liquid consisting of gasoline jelled with aluminum soaps, used as a weapon of war in fire bombs and flame throwers.
WordNet 3.0
- n. gasoline jelled with aluminum soaps; highly incendiary liquid used in fire bombs and flamethrowers
Etymologies
- Formed from na(phthenic) palm(itic) acid, the two original components of the substance. (Wiktionary)
- na(phthenate), salt of naphthenic acid (from naphthene) + palm(itate). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The most effective incendiary weapon was called napalm.”
“And for those who feel the need to defend their perimeter with fougasse, the Army Chemical Corps expedient recipe for improvised napalm is to mix powdered laundry detergent with gasoline until it has a consistency like applesauce.”
“Originally the name napalm was given to a thickener that could be mixed with gasoline and other incendiary material.”
“Tubes belched jellied gasoline, what used to be called napalm, at the uncomprehending Cardassians.”
“Unlike napalm, which is designed to set large areas ablaze, and which the U.S. no longer uses white phosphorus is used to mark a target or produce a smoke screen to hide troop movements.”
“Unlike napalm, which is designed to set large areas ablaze, and which the U.S. no longer uses, white phosphorus is usually employed to mark a target or produce a smoke screen to hide troop movements.”
“And I don't think there's much moral distinction between being incinerated in the hundreds of thousands by napalm, which is what we were dropping on”
“She said the mixture would not have been explosive in itself, but it could have been described as napalm.”
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph
“It's Monday, which means it's time for a new pattypunker: time for some crank call napalm and your assistant is just the bad ass to serve it up. john mayer ...”
“If an athlete takes the corner too high, the membrane rips, which in turn releases the napalm, which is ignited by the flre at the top of the run.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘napalm’.
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EU - Eurovoc - international relations
ABM Agreement, accession to a co..., accession to a tr..., accession to an a..., achievement of peace, ACP-EC Convention, advanced technolo..., aerospace industry, African organisation, aggression, agreement, agricultural coop... and 851 more...
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kingofbash's Words
bash, poleaxed, salacious, libertine, charlatan, aplomb, fortuitous, finagle, apoplectic, debutante, carte blanche, aardvark and 472 more...
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Favorites
machiavellian, mercurial, deus ex machina, synecdoche, litotes, phallic, freudian, metonymy, chrestomathy, falsifiable, gestalt, truthiness and 211 more...
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hedges's Words
wii, crepuscule, adumbrate, concatenation, sufi, qawwali, furry, riot, mellifluous, conspiracy, etymology, tea cozy and 369 more...
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kevincooper's Words
prosopopeia, lisle, magisterial, zeitgeist, zeugma, bloviate, apocryphal, bon mot, cacophony, euphony, brigandier, micturition and 313 more...
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Portmanteaus
Words created by combining 2 (or sometimes more)
smog, spork, brunch, camcorder, chortle, cremains, cyborg, fantabulous, ginormous, frenemy, ebonics, gerrymander and 34 more...
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N is for Nachos
My N Words
nachos, nickleboxer, napalm, napkin, narf, non-parachute reg..., nickles, nook and cranny, nuts and bolts, nothing lasts for..., newsflash, name day and 10 more...
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Lethal Weapons
bazooka, a-bomb, nunchaku, boomerang, mace, blackjack, morning star, pump action shotgun, blunderbuss, napalm, bowie knife, uzi and 8 more...
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Theorie: The Madwoman's Underclothes
'The Madwoman's Underclothes' book is a collection of writings by Germaine Greer from 1968 to 1985. The title refers to what she sees as being the media's obsession with her going bra-less. Warning...
homespun, shuck, flyte, animadversion, groover, tom jones, fucker, cocksman, sweety-sharp, goatman, ha-ha, corridor of power and 84 more...
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csda7's list
extempore, doppelganger, esoteric, vagabond, query, napalm, arbitrarily
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Fight! Fight! Fight!
Fighting talk...
melee, fight, confrontation, brawl, quarrel, conflict, ruckus, fisticuffs, clobber, napalm
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Two Weeks with the Queen
pained, napalm, riddled, plunge, threadbare, wedged, snazzy, gastric
Tweets
Looking for tweets for napalm.
bilby "As long as you send our young brothers, our young lovers, to strangle their souls, petrify their hearts, twist their heads out of shape killing and torturing women and babies in Vietnam, knot up their manhood and dry out their sperm in showers of napalm, to forget the blind and gentle cock and learn the supersonic rifle and flame-thrower, for that long you're not safe, and probably for longer."
- 'Dear John', Germaine Greer, circa 1969. Mar 28, 2008
sonofgroucho "I love the smell of napalm in the morning." Apocalypse Now. Feb 20, 2008