potash

[ pot-ash ]
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noun
  1. potassium carbonate, especially the crude impure form obtained from wood ashes.

  2. potassium hydroxide.

  1. the oxide of potassium, K2O.

  2. potassium, as carbonate of potash.

Origin of potash

1
1615–25; back formation from plural pot-ashes, translation of early Dutch potasschen.See pot1, ash1

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British Dictionary definitions for potash

potash

/ (ˈpɒtˌæʃ) /


noun
  1. another name for potassium carbonate, esp the form obtained by leaching wood ash

  2. another name for potassium hydroxide

  1. potassium chemically combined in certain compounds: chloride of potash

Origin of potash

1
C17 pot ashes, translation of obsolete Dutch potaschen; so called because originally obtained by evaporating the lye of wood ashes in pots

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

Scientific definitions for potash

potash

[ pŏtăsh′ ]


  1. Any of several chemical compounds that contain potassium, especially potassium carbonate (K2CO3), which is a strongly alkaline material obtained from wood ashes and used in fertilizers.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.