| a white powder that decomposes on contact with water and has the characteristic odor of gaseous chlorine: regarded, when dry, as a mixed calcium hypochlorite-chloride, used as a commercial bleach for wood pulp, textiles, oils, and soaps, and in laundering as a decolorizer and disinfectant. |
| bleach·ing powder (blē'chĭng) n. A powder containing calcium chloride and calcium hypochlorite, used in solution as a bleach. Also called chloride of lime, chlorinated lime. |
