phosphoric
adjEtymology From phosphor + -ic.
1
Chemistry, Natural sciences, Physical sciences Pertaining to the element phosphorus; containing phosphorus, especially in its higher valency (5).
- An old man to whom a few drops of phosphoric ether had been administered experienced repeated and imperious venereal wants.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 202:
2
Figuratively, Literary Pertaining to a phosphor; phosphorescent.
- I refer to the light in the tail of a glow-worm […] first, that it is phosphoric; secondly, that its use is to attract the male insect.1802, William Paley, Natural Theology, section XIX:
- [T]he gulf beneath blended in the darkness, till but one atmosphere seemed both above and below, sometimes illumined by flashes of phosphoric light—meteors that might have suited sea or sky, and, broken by two or three ridges of foam, seen in obscurity, like lines of snow.1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, pages 197–198:
- Synonyms
- phosphorous
- Derived terms
- difluorophosphoric, glycerophosphoric, hypophosphoric, metaphosphoric, orthophosphoric, paraphosphoric, phosphoric acid, phosphoric chloride, polyphosphoric, pyrophosphoric, sulphophosphoric
- Related terms
- phosphorous