Glauber's salts
- noun
- /ˈɡlaʊbərz sɔlts/
- Specialized
:
sales de Glauber
- Doctors often prescribe Glauber's salts for constipation.
Examples
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The laboratory ordered a supply of Glauber's salts for chemical experiments.
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Glauber's salts dissolve easily in water to form a clear solution.
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Early scientists used Glauber's salts as a common laxative remedy.
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Have you ever used Glauber's salts as a laxative?
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Early scientists used Glauber's salts as a common laxative remedy.
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Doctors often prescribe Glauber's salts for constipation.
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The laboratory ordered a supply of Glauber's salts for chemical experiments.
Synonyms
A white chemical in crystal form that people use as a laxative and in industry
A white salt used to make glass, paper, dyes, and some medicines
Surface Forms
Morphology
Glauber's + salt
The expression is eponymous: combining the proper name 'Glauber' with 'salt' transparently signals that this is a particular kind of salt, so a learner would likely infer it denotes a salt-type substance. However, the exact chemical identity (sodium sulfate decahydrate) and its laxative/industrial uses are specialized knowledge not derivable from the parts, so the meaning is only partly predictable.
Etymology
Glauber's salts is named after the chemist Johann Rudolf Glauber, who produced white salts, crystals that dissolved in water and were used as a 'medicine' to help people who could not go to the toilet. So today Glauber's salts means those salt crystals, used as a 'medicine' and in industry.
