lewisite

American

[loo-uh-sahyt] / ˈlu əˌsaɪt /

noun

a pale yellow, odorless compound, C 2 H 2 AsCl 3 , used as a blister gas in World War I.

lewisite British

/ ˈluːɪˌsaɪt /

noun

a colourless oily poisonous liquid with an odour resembling that of geraniums, having a powerful vesicant action and used as a war gas; 1-chloro-2-dichloroarsinoethene. Formula: ClCH:CHAsCl 2

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of lewisite

1920–25; named after Winford Lee Lewis (1878–1943), American chemist who developed it; -ite ¹

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

One woman, a service trainee for the US Air Force, reported being ordered to run through a cloud of the organoarsenic compound lewisite in a “gas acquaintance procedure” during flight training in Houston, Texas.

From Nature • Jan. 10, 2017

Heavier and more persistent than mustard gas, lewisite is an arsenic compound which smells like geraniums, bears the scientific name of beta-chlorvinyldichlorarsine.

From Time Magazine Archive

The chemicals involved include nerve gas, mustard gas, lewisite and mycotoxins.

From Time Magazine Archive

The poison gases: mustard, lewisite, ethyldichlorarsine, chlorpicrin, diphosgene, phosgene and chlorine.

From Time Magazine Archive

Standard treatment for burns, whether caused by incendiary bombs, mustard gas or lewisite, is application of tannic-acid dressings.

From Time Magazine Archive

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023