SQUIB n.
A little pipe, or hollow cylinder of paper, filled with powder or combustible matter, to be thrown into the air while burning, so as to burst there with a crack. Lampoons, like squibs, may make a present blaze. Waller. The making and selling of fireworks, and squibs . . . is punishable. Blackstone.
STANNIC a.
Libavius. -- Stannic oxide, tin oxide, SnO2, produced artificially as a white amorphous powder, and occurring naturally in the mineral cassiterite. It is used in the manufacture of white enamels, and, under the name of putty powder, for polishing glass, etc.
STARCH n.
s, and extracted (as from potatoes, corn, rice, etc.) as a white, glistening, granular or powdery substance, without taste or smell, and giving a very peculiar creaking sound when rubbed between the fingers. It is used as a food, in the production of commercial grape sugar, for stiffening linen in laundries, in making…
SULPHUR n.
cohol. (Chem.) See Mercaptan. -- Sulphur auratum Etym: [L.] (Old Chem.), a golden yellow powder, consisting of antimonic sulphide, Sb2S5, -- formerly a famous nostrum. -- Sulphur base (Chem.), an alkaline sulphide capable of acting as a base in the formation of sulphur salts according to the old dual theory of salts.…
SULPHURIC a.
s, and is used in the manufacture of hydrochloric and nitric acids, of soda, of bleaching powders, etc. It is also powerful dehydrating agent, having a strong affinity for water, and eating and corroding paper, wood, clothing, etc. It is thus used in the manufacture of ether, of imitation parchment, and of nitroglyceri…
SUSPEND v.
To support in a liquid, as an insoluble powder, by stirring, to facilitate chemical action. To suspend payment (Com.), to cease paying debts or obligations; to fail; -- said of a merchant, a bank, etc.