Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A corrosive, fuming, volatile mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acids, used for testing metals and dissolving platinum and gold.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun obsolete, inorganic chemistry A mixture of three parts concentrated
hydrochloric acid to one part concentratednitric acid .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a yellow fuming corrosive mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acid that dissolves metals (including gold)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[New Latin aqua rēgia : Latin aqua, water + Latin rēgia, feminine of rēgius, royal (because it dissolves gold, the “royal metal”).]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Latin aqua regia, royal water, so named because it is one of the few solvents capable of dissolving noble metals.
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Examples
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kewpid commented on the word aqua regia
A mixture of concentrated hydrochloric and nitric acid that can dissolve the royal metals gold and platinum, hence "royal water".
November 4, 2007
misterpolly commented on the word aqua regia
I didn't know this one but was struck by its similarity to the Italian word "acquaragia" which is a solvent (basically turpentine) capable of dissolving paints and varnishes. The -ragia here comes from the Greek -rhagia meaning to break (cf. haemorrhage)
December 14, 2007
kad commented on the word aqua regia
Such a nice sounding phrase for what is actually extremely caustic stuff.
December 14, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word aqua regia
"Aqua regia is a dangerous chemical that must be treated with great caution; would Drebbel really have left it in so precarious a position by his window? Is it possible, instead, that Drebbel was deliberately experimenting with cochineal--as an alchemist?
Tin and aqua regia were commonly used in alchemy. Moreover ... the philosopher's stone--which transmuted base metals into gold and bestowed immortal life, wisdom, and salvation on its maker--was actually a red powder or liquid. ... Consequently, alchemists like Drebbel were greatly interested in red dyes."
Amy Butler Greenfield, A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire (New York: Harper Collins, 2005), 139.
More info on Cornelis Drebbel.
October 5, 2017