| a brownish-yellow gum resin, having an acrid taste, occurring in tearlike fragments from a plant, Dorema ammoniacum, of western Asia: used in porcelain ceramics and in medicine as an expectorant and counterirritant. |
am·mo·ni·ac 2  (ə-mō'nē-āk')  n. A strong-smelling gum resin from the stems of a plant (Dorema ammoniacum) of western Asia, formerly used in perfumery and in medicine as an expectorant and a stimulant. Also called gum ammoniac. [Middle English ammoniak, from Latin ammōniacum, from Ammōniacus, of Amen, from Greek Ammōniakos; see ammonia.] |
| gum ammoniac n. See ammoniac2. |
