ammoniac, a. and n.
(əˈməʊnɪæk)
Forms: 4–5 armoniak, -yac, 4–8 -iac, 5 -yak(e, ammonyak, amoniak, 7 -ac, 7–8 armoniack(e, ammoniack(e, 7– ammoniac.
[a. Fr. ammoniac, armoniac, ad. L. ammōniac-um, a. Gr. ἀµµωνιακόν, belonging to Ammon or Ammonia; applied subst. to a salt, and a gum, both obtained from the Libyan region of Ammonia near the shrine of Jupiter Ammon; f. ἄµµων, Gr. form of the name of the Egyptian Deity Amûn. The corruption to armoniac found in med.L., Fr., and Eng., was perh. due to an association with the Gr. ἁρµονία fastening or joining, from the use of gum ammoniac as a cement, or of sal ammoniac in the joining of metals.]
A. adj.
1. in sal ammoniac (L. sal ammoniacus, Fr. sel ammoniac) i.e. Salt of Ammon, a hard white opaque crystalline salt, supposed to have been originally prepared from the dung of camels near the temple of Jupiter Ammon, as it still is in Egypt; chemically Ammonium Chloride NH4Cl, formerly called muriate of ammonia; used in tinning iron, in pharmacy, and for the manufacture of Ammonium Alum for the dyer.
| c 1386 Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 245 Arsenik, sal armoniak [v.r. armonyak], and brimston. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 605 Hony, myxt with salt armonyake. 1470 Bk. Quintess. 9 If ȝe wole dissolue þe gold to watir. putte þanne yn þe watir corosyue. Sal armoniac. 1601 Holland Pliny (1634) II. 415 This Ammoniacke salt is corrupted and sophisticate..with the pit salt of Sicily called Cocanicus. 1605 Timme Quersit. i. v. 20 Sal armoniac is of nature spirituall. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Ammoniacum, The liquor will be scentless, and of the taste of sal armoniac. 1873 Williamson Chem. viii. §53 The hydrochlorate can be obtained in crystals..mixed with sal-ammoniac. |
2. in gum ammoniac, i.e. ‘gum of Ammon,’ a gum-resin, of peculiar smell, and bitterish taste, the inspissated juice of an umbelliferous plant (Dorema Ammoniacum) found wild from North Africa to India, and perhaps of some of its congeners. Employed in medicine, and as a cement.
| 1627 Peacham Gentl. Exerc. i. xxi. (1634) 67 Take Gumme Armoniacke, and grinde it with the juyce of Garlicke as fine as may be. 1714 Fr. Bk. Rates 92 Gum Armoniack per 100 Weight. 1844 T. Graham Dom. Med. 31 [Tartar emetic]..will operate as an expectorant, when combined with squill, gum ammoniac and camphor. |
3. Of the nature of ammonia, ammoniacal.
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 322 Also a volatile or Armoniac Salt. 1767 Monro in Phil. Trans. LVII. 511, I saturated some of it with the volatile ammoniac salt. 1869 Eng. Mech. 30 Apr. 133/2 Samples of Ammoniac Sulphate. |
B. n.
1. = gum ammoniac: see A. 2. Also in L. form, ammoniacum.
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 1120 White wex, hardde pitch, remysse ammonyak Thees three comixt. 1563 T. Gale Antidot. ii. 62 The..Hammoniacum dissolued in Vineger must be boyled. 1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Armoniaque, Armoniake, Armoniacum. 1601 Holland Pliny (1634) II. 180 Since we are fallen into the mention of Gums, it will not be amisse to treat of Ammoniack. 1712 tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 193 The Fennel bearing Ammoniack grows plentifully in the Deserts of Lybia. 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v., The good ammoniac is of a pale colour. 1875 Wood Therap. (1879) 529 The influence of ammoniac upon the general system is very slight. 1876 Harley Mat. Med. 601 Ammoniacum resembles the Persian drug. |
† 2. = ammonia. [mod.Fr. ammoniaque.] Obs.
| 1791 Hamilton Berthollet's Dyeing I. i. i. iii. 46 The colour may be restored by means of chalk or ammoniac (volatile alkali). 1802 Chenevix Chem. Nomencl. 55 Ammoniac is a term, which Mrs. Fulhame..has expressed a desire to see changed. I agree with her in preferring Ammonia. |
¶ in bole Armoniac (amoniak), it is a corruption of Armeniac. ‘Bole Armoniac or the Armenian Bole is a soft friable fatty earth, usually of a pale red colour.’ Chambers Cycl.
| c 1386 Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 238 As bol armoniak [v.r. armonyak, -yac, amoniak], verdegres, boras. 1585 H. Lloyd Treas. Health O iij, Take of..Mastycke, Dragons bloud, bole Amonike new, of eche like quantitee. 1586 Cogan Haven Health (1636), Coriander, Ginger, Bole Armoniacke, of each a dram. 1627 Peacham Compl. Gent. xiii. (1634) 139 Margaritone was..the first that devised laying Gold or Gilding upon Bole Armoniacke to be burnished. 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v., This popularly, though corruptly called in English Bole Armoniac, is called by the naturalists Armenia terra, or Armenian clay. |