Word Study
hartshorn
CIDE DICTIONARY
hartshorn, n.
- The horn or antler of the hart, or male red deer. [1913 Webster]
- Spirits of hartshorn (see below); volatile salts. [1913 Webster]
Hartshorn plantain (Bot.), an annual species of plantain (Plantago Coronopus ); -- called also buck's-horn . Booth. -- Hartshorn shavings, originally taken from the horns of harts, are now obtained chiefly by planing down the bones of calves. They afford a kind of jelly. Hebert. -- Salt of hartshorn (Chem.), an impure solid carbonate of ammonia, obtained by the destructive distillation of hartshorn, or any kind of bone; volatile salts. Brande & C.-- Spirits of hartshorn (Chem.), a solution of ammonia in water; -- so called because formerly obtained from hartshorn shavings by destructive distillation. Similar ammoniacal solutions from other sources have received the same name.
OXFORD DICTIONARY
hartshorn, n. archaic 1 an ammonious substance got from the horns of a hart.
2 (in full spirit of hartshorn) an aqueous solution of ammonia.
2 (in full spirit of hartshorn) an aqueous solution of ammonia.
Etymology
OE (as HART, HORN(1))
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