Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A mixture of at least two substances formed by the polymerization of formaldehyde under the influence of calcium oxid. It contains a sugar, C6H12O6.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Ask my index, mund my achilles, swell my obolum, wosh-up my nase serene, answered the Mookse, rapidly by turning clement, urban, eugenious and celestian in the formose of good grogory humours.

    Finnegans Wake 2006

  • He had forgotten a good deal of his Latin, but there still lingered in his memory the old warning: "_O formose puer, nimium ne crede colori_."

    Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, 1920-01-28 Various

  • Jeigu dabar pažvelgsi į naršyklę, pastebėsi, kad bio laukelis automatiškai neatsiranda vartotojo informacijoje bei formose.

    Rails Wiki 2009

  • To him Maclaurin applied the lines of Virgil: ” 'Quamvis ille niger, quamvis tu candidus esses, O formose puer, nimium ne crede colori.'

    Life of Johnson Boswell, James, 1740-1795 1887

Comments

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  • "The formose reaction is of importance to the question of the origin of life as it explains part of the path from simple formaldehyde to complex sugars like ribose and from there to RNA. In one experiment simulating early Earth conditions, pentoses formed from mixtures of formaldehyde, glyceraldehyde, and borate minerals such as colemanite (Ca2B6O115H2O) or kernite (Na2B4O7). Both formaldehyde and glycolaldehyde have been observed spectroscopically in outer space, making the formose reaction of particular interest to the field of astrobiology."

    --Wikipedia

    September 24, 2010

  • In addition, formose means beautiful, comely (OED). See formous, which is a variant of this word.

    November 11, 2012