borax
/ˈbɔɹ.æks/ noun, verb
Forms boraxes boraces boraxing boraxed
- noun 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.
- noun (inorganic chemistry) The sodium salt of boric acid, Na₂B₄O₇, either anhydrous or with 5 or 10 molecules of water of crystallization.
- noun (sometimes attributive) Cheap or tawdry furniture or other works of industrial design.
- verb (transitive) To treat with borax.
Synonyms
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).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A white or gray crystalline salt, with a slight alkaline taste, used as a flux, in soldering metals, making enamels, fixing colors on porcelain, and as a soap. It occurs native in certain mineral springs, and is made from the boric acid of hot springs in Tuscany.
Etymology [OE. boras, fr. F. borax, earlier spelt borras; cf. LL. borax, Sp. borraj; all fr. Ar. b, fr. Pers. b.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “borax”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details