CORDITE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Cordite

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Cordite

noun

Explosive powder (nitroglycerin and guncotton and petrolatum) dissolved in acetone and dried and extruded in brown cords.

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Etymology of 'Cordite'

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"Cordite" Quotes from Famous Books

... believe it! That's the Austrian army gun—she's a two-fifty-six caliber cordite, hasn't any kick to speak of, and they use it on elephants in Africa. Why, she'll kill ...

— The Pirate Shark • Elliott Whitney

... interesting to watch these weapons at work. Their gunners would wait until they saw a flash from "Long Tom" or "Puffing Billy" and then fire, their shells getting home first by two or three seconds, owing to the greater velocity imparted by cordite charges. Soon after ten o'clock the enemy's artillery fire from different directions grew brisker. The damage, whatever it may have been, inflicted on "Long Tom," or his crew, having been made good under cover of a white flag, which the Boers seem ...

— Four Months Besieged - The Story of Ladysmith • H. H. S. Pearse

... war developed were potash and acetone, both of which are factors in powder and explosive making. The former is used in the ordinary black gunpowder, but the latter is necessary in the making of the smokeless powder. England wanted Cordite, one form of this powder which the British think is the best propellant in the world. It is made of guncotton and nitroglycerine and acetone is one of the chemicals required in its manufacture. England ...

— Kelly Miller's History of the World War for Human Rights • Kelly Miller

Words linked to "Cordite" : cellulose nitrate, mineral jelly, nitroglycerin, nitrocotton, Nitrostat, trinitroglycerin, guncotton, petroleum jelly, explosive compound, glyceryl trinitrate, Nitrospan, nitrocellulose, nitroglycerine, petrolatum