Definitions

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Chem.) The organic compound C2H5.OH, the common alcohol which is the intoxicating agent in beer, wine, and other fermented and distilled liquors; called also ethyl alcohol. It is used pure or denatured as a solvent or in medicines and colognes and cleaning solutions, or mixed in gasoline as a fuel for automobiles, and as a rocket fuel (as in the V-2 rocket).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun organic chemistry A simple aliphatic alcohol formally derived from ethane by replacing one hydrogen atom with a hydroxyl group: CH3-CH2-OH.
  • noun Specifically, this alcohol as a fuel.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the intoxicating agent in fermented and distilled liquors; used pure or denatured as a solvent or in medicines and colognes and cleaning solutions and rocket fuel; proposed as a renewable clean-burning additive to gasoline

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[ethan(e) + –ol.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Contracted from ethyl + alcohol. Ethyl is from Ancient Greek αἰθήρ (aithēr, "ether"), influenced by German Äthyl.

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