smelling salts

See synonyms for smelling salts on Thesaurus.com
noun(used with a plural verb)
  1. a preparation for smelling, essentially of ammonium carbonate with some agreeable scent, used as a stimulant and restorative.

Origin of smelling salts

1
First recorded in 1830–40

Words Nearby smelling salts

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use smelling salts in a sentence

  • All, that is, save Nina's ayah, who opportunely produced a bottle of smelling-salts and passed it to the mem-sahib.

    The Tigress | Anne Warner
  • She relapsed into a weak giggle, and Hyacinth stooped for the bottle of smelling-salts, which had rolled under the sofa.

    Hyacinth | George A. Birmingham
  • Oh, she is going to faint, cried dismayed Nathalie, while the mother rushed to the dresser for the smelling salts.

  • "It's made me positively ill," complained Mrs. Stuart, busy with her smelling-salts.

    By Right of Conquest | Arthur Hornblow
  • Mrs. Carroll, roused from her reading, laid aside her novel and bottle of smelling-salts to take the letter.

    The Carroll Girls | Mabel Quiller-Couch

British Dictionary definitions for smelling salts

smelling salts

pl n
  1. a pungent preparation containing crystals of ammonium carbonate that has a stimulant action when sniffed in cases of faintness, headache, etc

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012