Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The liquid obtained by leaching wood ashes.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A variant of
lay . - An obsolete spelling of
lie . - noun An obsolete variant of
lee . - noun In a general sense, water charged with soluble solid matter by contact with a mixture of solid substances, partly soluble, partly insoluble.
- noun Water impregnated with alkaline salt imbibed from the ashes of wood by the process of leaching; also, some solution of an alkali, as potash, which is itself the product of leached lye concreted by evaporation.
- noun An obsolete spelling of
lie .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A strong caustic alkaline solution of potassium salts, obtained by leaching wood ashes. It is much used in making soap, etc.
- noun (Chem.) Sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide, or a concentrated aqueous solution of either compound.
- noun (Railroad), engraving A short side line, connected with the main line; a turn-out; a siding.
- noun obsolete A falsehood.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A strong
caustic alkaline solution of potassium or sodium salts, obtained byleaching wood ashes. It is much used in making soap as well as its use inbiodiesel . - verb Obsolete spelling of
lie .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a strong solution of sodium or potassium hydroxide
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Regarding your question "Other than lye, is soap dangerous?" the short answer is "No!"
Swirling Soap - Preparing the 1st color Anne-Marie 2007
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Prepared cotton fibers received successive steepings in lye, olive oil, alum, and dung in addition to several madder baths and aftertreatments.
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For now they must brew the Christmas ale, steep the Christmas fish in lye, and do their Christmas baking and Christmas scouring.
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Who are the people today that deliver “phrases, washed in lye, about heroes and heroic death,” but fail to attend a single soldier’s funeral for fear that death — real death, not the kind they have on CSI — might cross an American’s TV screen?
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'Lutefisk' is an infamous Norwegian dish composed of fish soaked in lye.
Boing Boing: December 14, 2003 - December 20, 2003 Archives 2003
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The soap will now be found united at the top of the liquor, or what is called the waste lye, which is of no further use, and is therefore drawn off.
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If they weren't throwing acid, it was probably because they were throwing lye, which is a base but has pretty much the same effect.
Chicago Reader 2010
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In 1785, he introduced a bleaching liquid called lye de Javelle and publicized his technique without patenting it.
Covenant Zone 2010
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If they weren't throwing acid, it was probably because they were throwing lye, which is a base but has pretty much the same effect.
Chicago Reader 2010
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If they weren't throwing acid, it was probably because they were throwing lye, which is a base but has pretty much the same effect.
Chicago Reader 2010
yarb commented on the word lye
...from the ashes of the burned scraps of the whale, a potent lye is readily made; and whenever any adhesiveness from the back of the whale remains clinging to the side, that lye quickly exterminates it.
- Melville, Moby-Dick, ch. 98
July 29, 2008