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.
Wiktionary
n. (context organic compound English) The simplest carboxylic acid, HCOOH, a colourless, corrosive liquid with a sharp odour; it is present in the stings of ants, bees and nettles, and is prepared industrially by the oxidation of methanol or formaldehyde; it has some industrial uses, and its esters, the formates are used in perfumes.
WordNet
n. a colorless pungent fuming vesicatory liquid acid HCOOH found naturally in ants and many plants or made catalytically from carbon monoxide and steam; used in finishing textiles and paper and in the manufacture of insecticides and fumigants
Wikipedia
Formic acid (also called methanoic acid) is the simplest carboxylic acid. The chemical formula is H C O OH or HCOH. It is an important intermediate in chemical synthesis and occurs naturally, most notably in some ants. The word "formic" comes from the Latin word for ant, formica, referring to its early isolation by the distillation of ant bodies. Esters, salts, and the anions derived from formic acid are called formates.
This page provides supplementary chemical data on formic acid.
Usage examples of "formic acid".
There was butyl mercaptan and rotten celery, excrement, formic acid, decayed meat, and that certain smell which is like the taste of some brasses.
Ants stank of formic acid plus the musky odor of their particular city.
It would have taken more curiosity than the aliens, as a race, possessed for them to note that the mandibles were hollow and capable of injecting not venom, but a rather concentrated solution of formic acid.
The formic acid was particularly strong, a heavy concentrate, and identical to that of insect origin.
The pool instantly turned brown-black and unpleasantly pungent, but the French-speaking attendant made Beck understand that the formic acid in the multitude of little ant corpses, plus the turpentine they had absorbed from living in a pine forest, was far more efficacious than reliance on mere miracles for easing rheumatism, lumbago, muscle strain and backache.
The hall was suddenly flooded with a very bright light and an acrid formic acid stench like burning ants.