Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Hydrochloric \Hy`dro*chlo"ric\, a. [Hydro-, 2 + chloric: cf. F. hydrochlorique.] (Chem.) Pertaining to, or compounded of, chlorine and hydrogen gas; as, hydrochloric acid; chlorhydric.
Hydrochloric acid (Chem.), hydrogen chloride; a colorless, corrosive gas, HCl, of pungent, suffocating odor. It is made in great quantities in the soda process, by the action of sulphuric acid on common salt. It has a great affinity for water, and the commercial article is a strong solution of the gas in water. It is a typical acid, and is an indispensable agent in commercial and general chemical work. Called also muriatic acid and chlorhydric acid.
Wiktionary
n. (context inorganic compound English) A strong acid made by dissolving the gas, hydrogen chloride, in water. It reacts with alkalis, bases and many metals to form chlorides; it has many industrial applications.
WordNet
n. an aqueous solution of hydrogen chloride; a strongly corrosive acid
Wikipedia
This page provides supplementary chemical data on Hydrochloric acid.
Hydrochloric acid is a clear, colorless, highly pungent solution of hydrogen chloride ( H Cl) in water. It is a highly corrosive, strong mineral acid with many industrial uses. Hydrochloric acid is found naturally in gastric acid. When it reacts with an organic base it forms a hydrochloride salt.
It was historically called acidum salis, muriatic acid, and spirits of salt because it was produced from rock salt and green vitriol (by Basilius Valentinus in the 15th century) and later from the chemically similar common salt and sulfuric acid (by Johann Rudolph Glauber in the 17th century). Free hydrochloric acid was first formally described in the 16th century by Libavius. Later, it was used by chemists such as Glauber, Priestley, and Davy in their scientific research.
With major production starting in the Industrial Revolution, hydrochloric acid is used in the chemical industry as a chemical reagent in the large-scale production of vinyl chloride for PVC plastic, and MDI/ TDI for polyurethane. It has numerous smaller-scale applications, including household cleaning, production of gelatin and other food additives, descaling, and leather processing. About 20 million tonnes of hydrochloric acid are produced worldwide annually.
Usage examples of "hydrochloric acid".
Sourness, which is distinctly undesirable, can be detected (in the form of hydrochloric acid) in a solution of i part in 130,000.
Such pimento, to render it more attractive, is then often artificially coloured with bole or brown ochre, a sophistication which may be detected by boiling for a few seconds with diluted hydrochloric acid, filtering and testing with potassium ferrocyanide.
Poisoning by a strong solution of hydrochloric acid (which is what it proved to be) is one of the most painful deaths possible.
I will show you that neither nitric acid nor hydrochloric acid attack the noble metals.
For hours we were only several feet apart and she did not know it, I imagined her calmly mixing hydrochloric acid and cyanide in a bottle, and directing gas into the compressor's intake valve.
Hydrofluoric acid is only a moderately strong acid (unlike, say, hydrochloric acid) but it will dissolve glass.
Astronomers in Earth-bound observatories have also found unmistakable evidence of hydrochloric acid and hydrofluoric acid as gases in the upper atmosphere of Venus.
The human body uses concentrated hydrochloric acid in the stomach to dissolve food and aid digestion.
The resin is prepared by making a tincture of the rhizome, removing from this the greater part of the spirit by distillation and pouring the remaining liquor into water acidified with hydrochloric acid.
Red Litmus Paper is similarly prepared with an infusion faintly reddened by the addition of a small percentage of sulphuric or hydrochloric acid.