borax
verbEtymology From Middle English boras, from Anglo-Norman boreis, from Medieval Latin borax, baurach (“borax”), from Arabic بَوْرَق (bawraq), from Middle Persian bwlk' (bōrag), which yielded Persian بوره (bure).
1
To treat with borax.
borax
nounUS /ˈbɔɹ.æks/ · /ˈbɔː.ɹæks/
Etymology From Middle English boras, from Anglo-Norman boreis, from Medieval Latin borax, baurach (“borax”), from Arabic بَوْرَق (bawraq), from Middle Persian bwlk' (bōrag), which yielded Persian بوره (bure).
1
Usually A white or gray/grey crystalline salt, found in nature as a mineral, with a slight alkaline taste, used as a flux, in soldering metals, making enamels, fixing colors/colours on porcelain, and as a soap, etc.
- “The best way to clean the machine is to put a pound of borax and a gallon of vinegar in the machine and run the longest, hottest cycle you have,” he says.2025 March 13, Jillian Tracy, “Wash your laundry problems down the drain with these 18 expert-approved products”, in CNN:
2
Chemistry, Inorganic chemistry, Natural sciences, Physical sciences Usually The sodium salt of boric acid, Na₂B₄O₇, either anhydrous or with 5 or 10 molecules of water of crystallization.
3
Sometimes, Usually Cheap or tawdry furniture or other works of industrial design.
- Furniture isn't made to last thirty years or longer because they took a survey and found that young homemakers like to throw their furniture out and bring in all new, color-coded borax every seven years.1977, Harlan Ellison, Jeffty is Five:
- Derived terms
- boracic, boraciferous, boracium, borax bead test, borise, borize, boron, poke borax, unboraxed
- Related terms
- boric acid