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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Burning fluid

Fluid \Flu"id\, n. A fluid substance; a body whose particles move easily among themselves. Note: Fluid is a generic term, including liquids and gases as species. Water, air, and steam are fluids. By analogy, the term was sometimes applied to electricity and magnetism, as in phrases electric fluid, magnetic fluid, though not strictly appropriate; such usage has disappeared. Fluid dram, or Fluid drachm, a measure of capacity equal to one eighth of a fluid ounce. Fluid ounce.

  1. In the United States, a measure of capacity, in apothecaries' or wine measure, equal to one sixteenth of a pint or 29.57 cubic centimeters. This, for water, is about 1.04158 ounces avoirdupois, or 455.6 grains.

  2. In England, a measure of capacity equal to the twentieth part of an imperial pint. For water, this is the weight of the avoirdupois ounce, or 437.5 grains.

    Fluids of the body. (Physiol.) The circulating blood and lymph, the chyle, the gastric, pancreatic, and intestinal juices, the saliva, bile, urine, aqueous humor, and muscle serum are the more important fluids of the body. The tissues themselves contain a large amount of combined water, so much, that an entire human body dried in vacuo with a very moderate degree of heat gives about 66 per cent of water.

    Burning fluid, Elastic fluid, Electric fluid, Magnetic fluid, etc. See under Burning, Elastic, etc.

Burning fluid

Burning \Burn"ing\, n. The act of consuming by fire or heat, or of subjecting to the effect of fire or heat; the state of being on fire or excessively heated.

Burning fluid, any volatile illuminating oil, as the lighter petroleums (naphtha, benzine), or oil of turpentine (camphine), but esp. a mixture of the latter with alcohol.

Burning glass, a convex lens of considerable size, used for producing an intense heat by converging the sun's rays to a focus.

Burning house (Metal.), the furnace in which tin ores are calcined, to sublime the sulphur and arsenic from the pyrites.
--Weale.

Burning mirror, a concave mirror, or a combination of plane mirrors, used for the same purpose as a burning glass.

Syn: Combustion; fire; conflagration; flame; blaze.

Usage examples of "burning fluid".

Then there would appear, suddenly, the horned helmets of the soldiers, who cut the air blindly with their pincers and ejected a sticky, burning fluid.

My lungs panted as they inhaled this burning fluid, which became rarefied more and more.

The glass reservoir shattered, spraying burning fluid over a gun rack and the stack of ammo boxes underneath.

It shattered, the contents exploded, burning fluid washed the glass, and for a moment the only forward view they had was of seething fire.

By a stroke of good luck, the missile struck a low-lying rocky outcropping and detonated behind them, spreading a slick of burning fluid across the water's surface.