calomel

[ kal-uh-mel, -muhl ]

noun

, Pharmacology.

1. a white, tasteless powder, Hg 2 Cl 2 , used chiefly as a purgative and fungicide.

calomel

/ -məl; ˈkæləˌmɛl /

noun

1. a colourless tasteless powder consisting chiefly of mercurous chloride, used medicinally, esp as a cathartic. Formula: Hg 2 Cl 2

Word History and Origins

Origin of calomel¹

1670–80; < New Latin calomelas coined from Greek kaló ( s ) fair + mélas black; allegedly so called because its original preparation involved turning black powder into white

Word History and Origins

Origin of calomel¹

C17: perhaps from New Latin calomelas (unattested), literally: beautiful black (perhaps so named because it was originally sublimed from a black mixture of mercury and mercuric chloride), from Greek kalos beautiful + melas black

Example Sentences

In the 1820s and 1830s, acolytes of New Hampshire autodidact Samuel Thomson fought the imposition of medical licensure requirements, arguing that people should be allowed to pay practitioners who advised lobelia, cayenne pepper, and steam baths to treat sickness rather than those who followed the more orthodox courses of bleeding and dosing with calomel.

From Slate

The chemical — along with a less potent, but still toxic, form of mercury known as calomel — is also a key ingredient in skin-lightening products.

From Salon

In the past nine years, there have been more than 60 poisonings in California linked to “foreign brand, unlabeled, and/or homemade skin creams” that contained calomel, Sacramento County officials said.

From Salon

Severe cases of flu required a severe laxative like calomel, which is made with mercury chloride.

From Scientific American

But her twisted habit of not calling things by their names made her put first things last and use “expelled” for “gave birth” and burning” for “flow” so that it would all be less shameful, with the result that Úrsula reached the reasonable conclusion that her trouble was intestinal rather than uterine, and she advised her to take a dose of calomel on an empty stomach.

From Literature