‖ lixivium
(lɪkˈsɪvɪəm)
Pl. lixivia (rare).
[L. lixīvium neut. of lixīvius (also lixīvus) adj., made into lye, f. lix ashes, lye. L. had also the fem. lixīvia, whence F. lessive.]
Water impregnated with alkaline salts extracted by lixiviation from wood ashes; lye. Also, a solution obtained from other substances by lixiviation.
| 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 304 Aqua vitæ is also precious in all Lixiviums against Gangrens. 1651 Biggs New Disp. ¶80 His device was, out of the ashes of a Nettle, to draw a weak Lixivium. 1731 Arbuthnot Aliments iv. (1735) 95 The Urine is a Lixivium of the Salts that are in a Human Body. 1736 Bailey Househ. Dict. 319 Wash it very well with a lixivium of quick lime. 1799 Med. Jrnl. II. 469 The application of a lixivium of soap and water proved successful. 1812 Sir H. Davy Chem. Philos. 242 The cloths..after being treated with alkaline lixivia..were exposed..to dew and air. 1885 Watt Leather Manuf. xi. 135 A lixivium composed of the dung of pigeons and fowls in water. 1894 Smiles J. Wedgwood xviii. 233 Painted colours effected by Prussian lixivium. |
¶ Used for: lava. In quot. fig.
| 1814 Sir R. Wilson Diary II. 383 The whole of Europe is a smothered volcano. If the channels of wisdom, justice, and liberality had been opened, the boiling lixivium would have flowed safely away. |