kali1
(ˈkeɪlaɪ, ˈkælɪ)
Forms: 7 chali, 8 kaly, caly, 6– kali.
[Arab. qalī: see alkali.]
1. The Prickly Saltwort or Glasswort (Salsola Kali); = alkali 2. Also applied to other species of Salsola, as Barilla (Salsola Soda).
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. lxxviii. 115 The herbe named of the Arabians Kali, or Alkali. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 116 A desart producing here and there..a weed called Kali [printed Kall] by the Arabs. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 51 Glasse, whose materialls are fine sand, and the ashes of Chali or Fearne. 1766 W. Stork Acc. E. Florida 49 This herb resembles entirely our samphire in England, and is called barilla or kaly. 1884 Evang. Mag. 343 Here, among the softer sand..is growing..the Kali, or Saltwort. |
b. Egyptian kali, name for Mesembryanthemum nodiflorum.
| 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 316. 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxi. 293 Egyptian Kali, esteemed for making the best potash, is also of this genus. |
† 2. A saline substance obtained by the calcination of saltwort; soda-ash; = alkali 1; hence, vegetable alkali, potash. (Latinized kalium, whence the chemical symbol K for potassium.)
| 1799 W. G. Browne Trav. Africa, etc. xxv. 397 note, Twenty-five pounds of kali, and five pounds of pulverized chalk. 1811 A. T. Thomson Lond. Disp. (1818) 437 Take of nitrate of kali, six pounds. 1819 Pantologia s.v., The kali of the pharmacopeias is the vegetable alkali or potash. |