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alcohol
7 dictionary results for: Alcohol
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
al·co·hol       [al-kuh-hawl, -hol] Pronunciation Key
–noun
1.Also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, ethanol, fermentation alcohol. a colorless, limpid, volatile, flammable, water-miscible liquid, C2H5OH, having an etherlike odor and pungent, burning taste, the intoxicating principle of fermented liquors, produced by yeast fermentation of certain carbohydrates, as grains, molasses, starch, or sugar, or obtained synthetically by hydration of ethylene or as a by-product of certain hydrocarbon syntheses: used chiefly as a solvent in the extraction of specific substances, in beverages, medicines, organic synthesis, lotions, tonics, colognes, rubbing compounds, as an automobile radiator antifreeze, and as a rocket fuel. Compare denatured alcohol, methyl alcohol.
2.whiskey, gin, vodka, or any other intoxicating liquor containing this liquid.
3.Chemistry. any of a class of chemical compounds having the general formula ROH, where R represents an alkyl group and –OH a hydroxyl group, as in methyl alcohol, CH3OH, or ethyl alcohol, C2H5OH.
[Origin: 1535–45; < NL < ML < Ar al-kuḥl the powdered antimony, the distillate]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
al·co·hol       (āl'kə-hôl', -hŏl')  Pronunciation Key 
n.  
  1. A colorless volatile flammable liquid, C2H5OH, synthesized or obtained by fermentation of sugars and starches and widely used, either pure or denatured, as a solvent and in drugs, cleaning solutions, explosives, and intoxicating beverages. Also called ethanol, ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol.
  2. Intoxicating liquor containing alcohol.
  3. Any of a series of hydroxyl compounds, the simplest of which are derived from saturated hydrocarbons, have the general formula CnH2n+1OH, and include ethanol and methanol.


[Medieval Latin, fine metallic powder, especially of antimony, from Arabic al-kuḥl : al-, the + kuḥl, powder of antimony; see kḥl in Semitic roots.]

Word History: The al- in alcohol may alert some readers to the fact that this is a word of Arabic descent, as is the case with algebra and alkali, al- being the Arabic definite article corresponding to the in English. The origin of -cohol is less obvious, however. Its Arabic ancestor was kuḥl, a fine powder most often made from antimony and used by women to darken their eyelids; in fact, kuḥl has given us the word kohl for such a preparation. Arabic chemists came to use al-kuḥl to mean "any fine powder produced in a number of ways, including the process of heating a substance to a gaseous state and then recooling it." The English word alcohol, derived through Medieval Latin from Arabic, is first recorded in 1543 in this sense. Arabic chemists also used al-kuḥl to refer to other substances such as essences that were obtained by distillation, a sense first found for English alcohol in 1672. One of these distilled essences, known as "alcohol of wine," is the constituent of fermented liquors that causes intoxication. This essence took over the term alcohol for itself, whence it has come to refer to the liquor that contains this essence as well as to a class of chemical compounds such as methanol.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
alcohol 
1543, "fine powder produced by sublimination," from M.L. alcohol "powdered ore of antimony," from Arabic al-kuhul "kohl," the fine metallic powder used to darken the eyelids, from kahala "to stain, paint." The al- is the Arabic definite article, "the." "Powdered cosmetic" was the earliest sense in Eng.; definition broadened 1672 to "any subliminated substance, the pure spirit of anything." Modern sense of "intoxicating ingredient in strong liquor" is first recorded 1753, short for alcohol of wine, which was extended to "the intoxicating element in fermented liquors." In organic chemistry, the word was extended 1850 to the class of compounds of the same type as this. Alcoholism "disease of alcohol addiction" is from 1852; alcoholic "one who is addicted to drinking in excess" is from 1891. Alcoholics Anonymous founded 1935 in Akron, Ohio, U.S. Alky is first recorded 1844 as a slang shortening of "alcoholic liquor;" 1960 in the sense of "a drunkard."

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
alcohol

noun
1. a liquor or brew containing alcohol as the active agent; "alcohol (or drink) ruined him" 
2. any of a series of volatile hydroxyl compounds that are made from hydrocarbons by distillation 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
alcohol       (āl'kə-hôl')  Pronunciation Key 
  1. Any of a large number of colorless, flammable organic compounds that contain the hydroxyl group (OH) and that form esters with acids. Alcohols are used as solvents and for manufacturing dyes, perfumes, and pharmaceuticals. Simple alcohols, such as methanol and ethanol, are water-soluble liquids, while more complex ones, like cetyl alcohol, are waxy solids. Names of alcohols usually end in -ol.
  2. Ethanol.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

alcohol al·co·hol (āl'kə-hôl')
n.

  1. Any of a series of hydroxyl compounds derived from saturated hydrocarbons, including ethanol and methanol.
  2. A colorless, volatile, flammable liquid synthesized or obtained by fermentation of sugars and starches and widely used, either pure or denatured, as a solvent and in drugs. Also called ethanol, ethyl alcohol.
  3. Intoxicating liquor containing alcohol.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Alcohol

Al"co*hol\ ([a^]l"k[-o]*h[o^]l), n. [Cf. F. alcool, formerly written alcohol, Sp. alcohol alcohol, antimony, galena, OSp. alcofol; all fr. Ar. al-kohl a powder of antimony or galena, to paint the eyebrows with. The name was afterwards applied, on account of the fineness of this powder, to highly rectified spirits, a signification unknown in Arabia. The Sp. word has both meanings. Cf. Alquifou.]

1. An impalpable powder. [Obs.]

2. The fluid essence or pure spirit obtained by distillation. [Obs.] --Boyle.

3. Pure spirit of wine; pure or highly rectified spirit (called also ethyl alcohol); the spirituous or intoxicating element of fermented or distilled liquors, or more loosely a liquid containing it in considerable quantity. It is extracted by simple distillation from various vegetable juices and infusions of a saccharine nature, which have undergone vinous fermentation.

Note: As used in the U. S. "Pharmacop[oe]ia," alcohol contains 91 per cent by weight of ethyl alcohol and 9 per cent of water; and diluted alcohol (proof spirit) contains 45.5 per cent by weight of ethyl alcohol and 54.5 per cent of water.

4. (Organic Chem.) A class of compounds analogous to vinic alcohol in constitution. Chemically speaking, they are hydroxides of certain organic radicals; as, the radical ethyl forms common or ethyl alcohol (C2H5.OH); methyl forms methyl alcohol (CH3.OH) or wood spirit; amyl forms amyl alcohol (C5H11.OH) or fusel oil, etc.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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