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Caustic   /kˈɑstɪk/  /kˈɔstɪk/   Listen
adjective
Caustical, Caustic  adj.  
1.
Capable of destroying the texture of anything or eating away its substance by chemical action; burning; corrosive; searing.
2.
Severe; satirical; sharp; as, a caustic remark.
Caustic curve (Optics), a curve to which the ray of light, reflected or refracted by another curve, are tangents, the reflecting or refracting curve and the luminous point being in one plane.
Caustic lime. See under Lime.
Caustic potash, Caustic soda (Chem.), the solid hydroxides potash, KOH, and soda, NaOH, or solutions of the same.
Caustic silver, nitrate of silver, lunar caustic.
Caustic surface (Optics), a surface to which rays reflected or refracted by another surface are tangents. Caustic curves and surfaces are called catacaustic when formed by reflection, and diacaustic when formed by refraction.
Synonyms: Stinging; cutting; pungent; searching.



noun
Caustic  n.  
1.
Any substance or means which, applied to animal or other organic tissue, burns, corrodes, or destroys it by chemical action; an escharotic.
2.
(Optics) A caustic curve or caustic surface.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Caustic" Quotes from Famous Books



... woman in the Five Towns: that I do know,' said Meshach as, in the grand manner of a connoisseur, he lighted his cigar. 'And her was forty, day afore yesterday,' he added with caustic emphasis. ...
— Leonora • Arnold Bennett

... antiseptic agents with which we are acquainted, and has strong anaesthetic qualities. Some useful dyes are also obtained from it. It is obtained in quantities from coal-tar, that portion of the distillate known as the light oils being its immediate source. The tar oil is mixed with a solution of caustic soda, and the mixture is violently agitated. This results in the caustic soda dissolving out the carbolic acid, whilst the undissolved oils collect upon the surface, allowing the alkaline solution to be drawn from beneath. ...
— The Story of a Piece of Coal - What It Is, Whence It Comes, and Whither It Goes • Edward A. Martin

... coolness. We were in daily, I can truly say, almost hourly, intercourse in the year 1831 in Paris. I never met with a more sincere, warm-hearted, constant friend. No man came nearer to the ideal I had formed of a truly high-minded man. If he was at times severe or caustic in his remarks on others, it was when excited by the exhibition of the little arts of little minds. His own frank, open, generous nature instinctively recoiled from contact with them. His liberalities, ...
— Samuel F. B. Morse, His Letters and Journals - In Two Volumes, Volume II • Samuel F. B. Morse

... denotes Englishmen," the caustic John had time to throw in, before the silent arrangement at the gangway was interrupted by the appearance ...
— Homeward Bound - or, The Chase • James Fenimore Cooper

... presently show, is not dangerous. Further, it ties the aspirant to his oar for at least ten weeks, which is perhaps its greatest disadvantage; and it involves intense application and a pretty good temper under remarks from the "coach" that are sometimes almost more than caustic. But against these drawbacks are to be set the pleasure of gratified ambition, the healthy life, and, best of all, the sensation of the flight of the boat driven by eight men, of whom none are really bad oarsmen, and some are uncommonly good. Putting ...
— The Idler Magazine, Volume III, March 1893 - An Illustrated Monthly • Various


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