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  1. powder love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A substance consisting of ground, pulverized, or otherwise finely dispersed solid particles.
  2. n. Any of various preparations in the form of powder, as certain cosmetics and medicines.
  3. n. An explosive mixture, such as gunpowder.
  4. n. Light dry snow.
  5. v. To reduce to powder; pulverize.
  6. v. To dust or cover with or as if with powder.
  7. v. Slang To defeat handily or decisively.
  8. v. To become pulverized; turn into powder.
  9. v. To use powder as a cosmetic.
  10. idiom. keep (one's) powder dry To be ready for a challenge with little warning.
  11. idiom. take a powder To make a quick departure; run away.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. Fine, minute, loose, uncompacted particles, such as result from pounding or grinding a solid substance; dust.
  2. n. A preparation or composition, in the form of dust or minute loose particles, applied in various ways, as in the toilet, etc.: as, hair-powder; face-powder.
  3. n. A composition of saltpeter, sulphur, and charcoal, mixed and granulated: more particularly designated gunpowder (which see).
  4. n. Seasoning, either of salt or of spices.
  5. n. A medical remedy, or a dose of some medical remedy, in the form of powder, or minute loose or uncompacted particles: as, he has to take three powders every hour.
  6. To reduce to powder; pulverize; triturate; pound, grind, or rub to fine particles.
  7. To sprinkle with powder, dust, ashes, etc.; specifically, to put powder upon: as, to powder the hair or the face.
  8. To sprinkle with salt, spices, or other seasoning; hence, to corn; pickle.
  9. To sprinkle as with powder; stud; ornament with a small pattern, continually repeated.
  10. To whiten by some application of white material in the form of powder: thus, lace which has grown yellow is powdered by being placed in a packet of white lead and beaten.
  11. To scatter; place here and there as if sprinkled like powder: as, to powder violets on a silk ground.
  12. To fall to dust; be reduced to powder.
  13. To apply powder to the hair or face; use powder in the toilet.
  14. To attack violently; make a great stir.

Wiktionary

  1. n. The fine particles to which any dry substance is reduced by pounding, grinding, or triturating, or into which it falls by decay; dust.
  2. n. An explosive mixture used in gunnery, blasting, etc.; gunpowder.
  3. n. informal Light, dry, fluffy snow.
  4. v. transitive To reduce to fine particles.
  5. v. transitive To sprinkle with powder, or as with powder.
  6. v. intransitive To be reduced to powder; to become like powder.
  7. v. intransitive To use powder on the hair or skin.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. The fine particles to which any dry substance is reduced by pounding, grinding, or triturating, or into which it falls by decay; dust.
  2. n. An explosive mixture used in gunnery, blasting, etc.; gunpowder. See Gunpowder.
  3. v. To reduce to fine particles; to pound, grind, or rub into a powder; to comminute; to pulverize; to triturate.
  4. v. To sprinkle with powder, or as with powder; to be sprinkle.
  5. v. obsolete To sprinkle with salt; to corn, as meat.
  6. v. To be reduced to powder; to become like powder.
  7. v. To use powder on the hair or skin.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a solid substance in the form of tiny loose particles; a solid that has been pulverized
  2. n. a mixture of potassium nitrate, charcoal, and sulfur in a 75:15:10 ratio which is used in gunnery, time fuses, and fireworks
  3. v. make into a powder by breaking up or cause to become dust
  4. v. apply powder to
  5. n. any of various cosmetic or medical preparations dispensed in the form of pulverized powder

Etymologies

  1. From Middle English poudre, pouldre, Old French poudre, poldre, puldre, Latin pulvis ("dust, powder"). compare pollen fine flour, mill dust, E. pollen. Compare polverine, pulverize. (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English poudre, from Old French, from Latin pulvis, pulver-. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “Chlorinated lime powder, bleaching powder+/- 25% active chlorine”

    Chapter 4

  • “Just the other day my parents were researching tools and came on the term powder-actuated, and I was transported back to that hardware store.”

    Cultural Learnings

  • “They are like a regular chocolate chip cookie except that cocoa powder is added to make the dough chocolately brown.”

    Double Chocolate Dream Cookies

  • “And soon," said Abby Foxwell, "for I don't know what we'll do a whole day without water, and our powder is about gone.”

    Chapter 13

  • “According to a Pink Tentacle post linking to a FujiSankei Business i. article in Japanese, the RFID "powder" is expected to be available in the next two to three years.”

    Boing Boing

  • “Then added strawberry flavored protein powder and blended again.”

    Blending a Mango...

  • “He talked to Ned Cruz, the owner of the Chile Store, who sold chiles year-round as paste and in powder form, dried, fresh, and frozen.”

    Alba

  • “The glass of Taak with jeera powder is to wash down the hearty meal.”

    A Rustic Spread

  • “Milchkristalle has produced a powder from the milk which it says can be added to other drinks or yoghurt before bedtime.”

    The Guardian: German night milk may aid insomniacs

  • “One day we went up to the Williams hut, warmed ourselves with hot chocolate piled with cream and then swapped our skis for old-fashioned toboggans before chasing each other down a 3km run to the foot of the chairlift in powder snow as deep as our chests.”

    The Guardian: Family ski: never say never in South Tyrol

Show 10 more examples...

Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘powder’.

Comments

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  • chained_bear Sionnach, it's not fair that you keep posting the Best Comments Ever. :) And this is going on my Conversations list... Nov 21, 2007

  • uselessness Sir yes sir! Nov 21, 2007

  • skipvia Ummm, you can stop there, U. Nov 21, 2007

  • uselessness I recently discovered Gold Bond Medicated Foot Powder. I was fully prepared for disgust, but actually it's quite mentholly. Makes your feet all cold and tingly, and nice-smelling. I can't wait to cover my feet in it again tonight.

    Have I shared too much? Nov 21, 2007

  • reesetee Yikes.

    C_b, I know a few people who take BC Powder that way. Eeew. Nov 21, 2007

  • skipvia Now, sionnach--let's not cast aspersions about one's orificial preferences. Nov 20, 2007

  • sionnach There do appear to be certain well-defined national preferences about the way to take one's medicine. For instance, Germans have a fondness for intranasal administration, that is, they like to snort their drugs. The French, in contrast, have a certain penchant for suppositories.

    Somehow this knowledge makes one view the Franco-Prussian war in an entirely new light. Nov 20, 2007

  • chained_bear There's another discussion about "take a powder" (I think) on my list Powder Fun. At least I remember it that way (though haven't looked lately) because I'd never heard it before.

    Also, skipvia, I noticed the customer loyalty of BC Powder, but I also heard of lots of people who don't even put it in water--they just sprinkle it into their mouths. This grosses me out. Nov 20, 2007

  • bilby That's hilarious skipvia. I really liked this one: "We’ve been friends since 1978, and we’ve been through a whole lot of BC’s together." Nov 20, 2007

  • bilby I remember doing some interpreting work for a doctor who in turn had spent a lot of time in India. He told me, "You can prescribe pills for Indians, but there's no point. They'll just take them home and grind them into powders anyway."
    Nov 20, 2007

  • skipvia Bilby: BC Powder is still a widely available pain remedy in the South. You open the little envelope, pour the powder into water, and drink it down. I suppose it's little more than crushed aspirin, but it has a certain cachet among Southerners, for some reason.

    Your comment got me to thinking about BC, so I did a quick Google search. The story of BC Powder is here if you're interested. The user testimonials under The Faces of BC are priceless... Nov 20, 2007

  • bilby "take a powder"--that's just plain weird!

    Weren't most medicines originally powders before they were - ie. in modern times - tablets, capsules, etc.?
    Nov 20, 2007

  • chained_bear Captured at Yorktown, "70 barrels powder," meaning gunpowder, in addition to all the other loot. (Salem, Mass. Gazette, November 15, 1781) Oct 29, 2007

  • abraxaszugzwang c_b, can you change your name to powder_bear? Mar 6, 2007

  • chained_bear No, I haven't. I'll try to remember to look it up in the OED when I have a chance. Interesting... Mar 5, 2007

  • reesetee I read somewhere that "take a powder" is thought to come from a use of the word powder as "a sudden or frantic rush." Have you seen that anywhere, Powder Bear? Mar 5, 2007

  • chained_bear Think this word is cool? So do I. See? Mar 5, 2007

  • chained_bear Well, "keep your powder dry" makes sense to me, particularly (as I said) in the context of work. But "take a powder"--that's just plain weird! Feb 13, 2007

  • reesetee Or "keep your powder dry." Feb 13, 2007

  • chained_bear In the context of my work, this usually means gunpowder. Great word though. I love the saying "take a powder." Feb 13, 2007

  • haguremetaru Powder: Try running out into a grassy field on a stormy day, yelling this at the top of your lungs. Dec 9, 2006

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‘powder’ has been looked up 2606 times, loved by 3 people, added to 27 lists, commented on 21 times, and has a Scrabble score of 12.