The Collaborative International Dictionary
Hydrofluoric \Hy`dro*flu*or"ic\, a. [Hydro-, 2 + fluoric.] (Chem.) Pertaining to, or containing, hydrogen and fluorine; fluohydric; as, hydrofluoric acid.
Hydrofluoric acid (Chem.), a colorless, mobile, volatile liquid, HF, very corrosive in its action, and having a strong, pungent, suffocating odor. It is produced by the action of sulphuric acid on fluorite, and is usually collected as a solution in water. It attacks all silicates, as glass or porcelain, is the agent employed in etching glass, and is preserved only in vessels of platinum, lead, caoutchouc, or gutta-percha.
Wiktionary
n. (context chemistry English) A solution of hydrogen fluoride, HF, in water; it is a weak but very corrosive acid, used in the production of fluorine compounds, and in metallurgy.
WordNet
n. a weak poisonous liquid acid; formed by solution of hydrogen fluoride in water
Wikipedia
Hydrofluoric acid is a solution of hydrogen fluoride (HF) in water. It is a precursor to almost all fluorine compounds, including pharmaceuticals such as fluoxetine (Prozac), diverse materials such as PTFE (Teflon), and elemental fluorine itself. It is a colourless solution that is highly corrosive, capable of dissolving many materials, especially oxides. Its ability to dissolve glass has been known since the 17th century, even before Carl Wilhelm Scheele prepared it in large quantities in 1771. Because of its high reactivity toward glass and moderate reactivity toward many metals, hydrofluoric acid is usually stored in plastic containers (although PTFE is slightly permeable to it).
Hydrogen fluoride gas is an acute poison that may immediately and permanently damage lungs and the corneas of the eyes. Aqueous hydrofluoric acid is a contact-poison with the potential for deep, initially painless burns and ensuing tissue death. By interfering with body calcium metabolism, the concentrated acid may also cause systemic toxicity and eventual cardiac arrest and fatality, after contact with as little as 160 cm (25 square inches) of skin.
Usage examples of "hydrofluoric acid".
Astronomers in Earth-bound observatories have also found unmistakable evidence of hydrochloric acid and hydrofluoric acid as gases in the upper atmosphere of Venus.
Also, the moisture in the air reacts with the cryolite to form sodium fluoride, hydrofluoric acid, and alumina, thus further worsening the ratio.
It had been a very high price to pay for a moment's carelessness with hydrofluoric acid, and the accident only reinforced his belief that he wanted nothing to do with the stuff.
When Component 31 is completed and placed in a 6 molar solution of hydrofluoric acid, the remaining structural elements should look like the diagram in the accompanying figure.
To send him to the Hunt would have meant more feral activity, more sabotage, more throats cut, more hydrofluoric acid thrown over Heroes in city alleyways at night, and more humans killed in reprisals, too, more human land expropriated.
We would be safer tossing around vials of concentrated hydrofluoric acid.
I think the explosion blew tiny drops of hydrofluoric acid into the other room.
After reading the up-timer handling instructions and warnings, he was happy to let others play with hydrofluoric acid.