Crossword clues for formic
formic
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Formic \For"mic\, a. [L. formica an ant: cf. F. formique.] (Chem.) Pertaining to, or derived from, ants; as, formic acid; in an extended sense, pertaining to, or derived from, formic acid; as, formic ether.
Amido formic acid, carbamic acid.
Formic acid, a colorless, mobile liquid, HCO.OH, of a sharp, acid taste, occurring naturally in ants, nettles, pine needles, etc., and produced artifically in many ways, as by the oxidation of methyl alcohol, by the reduction of carbonic acid or the destructive distillation of oxalic acid. It is the first member of the fatty acids in the paraffin series, and is homologous with acetic acid.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1791 (in formic acid), literally "from ants," coined from Latin formica "ant" (see Formica (n.2)). The acid first was obtained in a fairly pure form in 1749 by German chemist Andreas Sigismund Marggraf (1709-1782), who prepared it by distilling red ants. It also is found in nettles and bee stings.
Wiktionary
a. 1 Of or pertaining to ants. 2 (context organic chemistry English) Of, pertaining to or derived from formic acid (or from methane).
WordNet
adj. of or relating to or derived from ants
of or containing or derived from formic acid
Wikipedia
Formic is an adjective describing ants, from the Latin formica.
Formic may also refer to:
- Formic acid, a chemical compound secreted by ants for defense
- The Formics, or Buggers, an alien species in the Ender's Game novel series by Orson Scott Card
Usage examples of "formic".
Frankland informs me that the fluid contained no trace of hydrochloric, sulphuric, tartaric, oxalic, or formic acids.
It is an equally strange fact, that, though acetic and propionic acids are highly poisonous, their ally, formic acid, is not so.
It is strange that allied acids act very differently: formic acid induces very slight inflection, and is not poisonous.
The Bugger, the Formic monster bringing destruction to the Earth, just as prophesied.
Since there is no evidence of the Formic enemy spying on us, this secrecy is not about the war.
And then cleanup, dragging the Formic bodies out of the tunnels and bit by bit converting it into a human space.
If this instantaneous communication works regardless of distance, then we could even be talking to the invasion fleet we sent against the Formic home planet right after the Second Invasion.
To their surprise, the thing set off a chain reaction that leapt from ship to ship, until all but the most outlying Formic ships were destroyed.
Fighter after fighter was picked off by the inrushing ships of the Formic fleet.
No, saluting Bean, with the respect due to a veteran of the Formic War.
And the Greek government had been part of the Russia-dominated Warsaw Pact for generations now, since before the Formic War.
Why, it could even have been done by Brasil itself-for all he knew, his former companions from the Formic War might be imprisoned somewhere in Araraquara.
The fact that Graff was court-martialed after winning the Formic War suggests that they'd better get it on record that they were not collaborating with the enemy-in case the other side wins.
What Ender Wiggin did in the Formic War, Peter Wiggin might be able to do in the conflagration that looms-put an end to it.
Not thirty million years in the future, as with my Homecoming books, or even three thousand years in the future, as with the trilogy of Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind, but rather only a couple of centuries in the future, after nearly a century of international stasis caused by the Formic War.