Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Hydrocyanic \Hy`dro*cy*an"ic\, a. [Hydro-, 2 + anic: cf. F. hydrocyanique.] (Chem.) Pertaining to, or derived from the combination of, hydrogen and cyanogen.
Hydrocyanic acid (Chem.), a colorless, mobile, volatile liquid, HCN, having a characteristic peach-blossom odor. It is one of the most deadly poisons. It is made by the action of sulphuric acid on yellow prussiate of potassium (potassium ferrocyanide), and chemically resembles hydrochloric and hydrobromic acids. Called also prussic acid, hydrogen cyanide, etc.
Wiktionary
n. (context chemistry obsolete English) hydrocyanic acid#English.
WordNet
n. a solution of hydrogen cyanide in water; weak solutions are used in fumigating and in the synthesis of organic compounds [syn: hydrocyanic acid]
Usage examples of "prussic acid".
An hour later the telltale bitter almond smell of prussic acid was gone, the muscles of the corpse relaxed again.
A small bottle of what I presume to be prussic acid was smashed on the floor, almost beside his chair.
It is more powerful than prussic acid and acts with tremendous rapidity.
Whipley had been discovered dead, apparently from prussic acid poisoning, after drinking an after-dinner glass of creme de menthe.
He treated him chiefly for prussic acid poisoning, thinking from the symptoms and the smell that Mr.
Maggs and begged him to be thorough in his search for prussic acid.
Alfred Taylor's work on 'Poisons' that about 1/4000 of a grain of arsenic, 1/4400 of a grain of prussic acid, 1/1400 of iodine, and 1/2000 of tartarised antimony, can be detected.
Arum leaves give off prussic acid when injured, being a product of certain glucosides contained, called cyanophoric glucosides.
The symptoms are exactly the same as those of prussic acid poisoning.
Why do they stick to pistols, chloroform, and prussic acid when there is such a splendid assortment of refined methods they might employ?
A couple of drops of hydrocyanic -prussic acid-or even a tiny quantity of pharmacopocial acid, and that's only two percent of anhydrous prussic acid-and you're dead before your glass hits the floor.
Only that morning, had she not been down to the drug-store to try to buy some prussic acid herself?
She went to the drug-store on the corner of Main Street in order to buy prussic acid but nobody would sell it to her, so she came home empty-handed.
I don't know what it was, but it had either prussic acid or white lead in it.
I should fancy it was prussic acid, as she seems to have died instantaneously.