Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same as fusil.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • (Chem.) A hot, acrid, oily liquid, accompanying many alcoholic liquors (as potato whisky, corn whisky, etc.), as an undesirable ingredient, and consisting of several of the higher alcohols and compound ethers, but mostly of amyl alcohol

Etymologies

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Examples

  • I think Haiti actually is a fusel country, a law-abiding country.

    CNN Transcript Jan 13, 2010 2010

  • Certainly there are other compounds in various alcoholic beverages that can contribute to its toxicity fusel oil, a mixture of higher alcohols and furfural, being my favorite, because it has such a cool name but your pointing a finger at a single compound and tying it to a particular food additive suggests both some degree of ignorance and some magnitude of agenda.

    Alcohol James Killus 2007

  • A small dose of fusel oils gives a distilled alcohol character; too much makes it unpleasant.

    On Food and Cooking, The Science and Lore of the Kitchen Harold McGee 2004

  • A small dose of fusel oils gives a distilled alcohol character; too much makes it unpleasant.

    On Food and Cooking, The Science and Lore of the Kitchen Harold McGee 2004

  • The substances that form the cloud are poorly soluble fusel oils and volatile fatty acids from the original spirits, and a variety of similar substances extracted from the barrel.

    On Food and Cooking, The Science and Lore of the Kitchen Harold McGee 2004

  • Spirits with a high fusel oil content have an unctuous quality in the mouth, while more neutral spirits give a cleansing, drying effect.

    On Food and Cooking, The Science and Lore of the Kitchen Harold McGee 2004

  • Spirits with a high fusel oil content have an unctuous quality in the mouth, while more neutral spirits give a cleansing, drying effect.

    On Food and Cooking, The Science and Lore of the Kitchen Harold McGee 2004

  • The substances that form the cloud are poorly soluble fusel oils and volatile fatty acids from the original spirits, and a variety of similar substances extracted from the barrel.

    On Food and Cooking, The Science and Lore of the Kitchen Harold McGee 2004

  • The Japanese, from the Mikado downwards, have acquired a love of foreign intoxicants, which would be hurtful enough to them if the intoxicants were genuine, but is far worse when they are compounds of vitriol, fusel oil, bad vinegar, and I know not what.

    Unbeaten Tracks in Japan Isabella Lucy 2004

  • Methanol and other low-boiling substances remain vaporized throughout all but the very top of the column, while fusel oils and other aromatics with high boiling points will condense on collection plates at hotter positions toward the bottom of the column, and alcohol will condense—and can be collected—at an intermediate point.

    On Food and Cooking, The Science and Lore of the Kitchen Harold McGee 2004

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