powder
/ˈpaʊdə
/- They can then be pounded to pieces and made into fine powder through repeated grinding in water.
- The thickness of the laminae increased with the size of the particles of the fine powder, but not to any great extent as follows.
- All that was left behind him was a fine, crushed multi-colored powder.
Synonyms
- The lipsticks, eye shadows, blushes and translucent powder in this kit will help transform your looks in no time.
- Instead I covered my face in a soft bronzing powder and coated my eyelashes with mascara.
- I quickly threw on foundation, powder, mascara, eye shadow, and lipstick.
- Do not use teething lotions, powders, whiskey, or paregoric (because it has opium in it).
- As well as tinctures, homeopathic remedies are available as sugar-based tablets, pills, granules and powders to be taken by mouth, and some also come as creams or ointments to be applied directly to the skin.
- The leaves and seeds, which mature in long pods, are used to prepare extracts or powders for medicinal use.
- I pour out a box of black projectile powder, much to the alarm of the two onlookers, and fill it up with my treasures.
- Doctors also treated a teenager who attempted to build an explosive device with a lead pipe and powder from shotgun cartridges.
- There was something about the newly falling powder snow that created a haven, erasing all the difficulties the past few weeks had presented and allowed it to be just me and the perfect world outside.
- He was sitting in loose powder snow on a steep slope and there was no way he could anchor himself to the mountain.
- Yet all was not powder snow twinkling in a rosy sunrise, and morale continued at a low ebb.
- When talking to Mr. Horsfield, who will become her lover, she powders her face, appearing to Horsfield as controlled, furtive, and calculating.
- And although powdering the face and hair and wearing some rouge were the rage in England, it wasn't applied like this woman wore it.
- I then put on my necklace and started powdering my face.
Synonyms
- The dance floor was freshly powdered for slippery Motown spins.
- The baby lay in front of her, powdered with plaster dust, and she pulled the child to her.
- A delicious sweet version can be made by mixing the ground black sesame with honey or dry powdered pure sugar cane juice extract.
- Shoe odour can be eliminated by sprinkling bicarbonate of soda or dry, powdered herbs, such as chamomile, in the shoes each evening.
- You can even make your own natural insect repellent with a little liquid soap, powdered cayenne pepper, onion, garlic, and water mixed in a spray bottle.
Synonyms
Phrases
keep one's powder dry
powder one's nose
take a powder
Origin
Middle English: from Old French poudre, from Latin pulvis, pulver- 'dust'.
Latin pulvis ‘dust’ is the source of pulverize (Late Middle English) as well as powder, which came into English via Old French poudre. If someone tells you to keep your powder dry they mean that you should be ready for action. Popular tradition attributes the advice put your trust in God, and keep your powder dry to the English statesman and general Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658). The combination of spiritual encouragement and practical measures is typical of him, but the line did not appear until the mid 19th century, nearly 300 years after his death, in an Irish ballad. In American English to take a powder is to depart quickly, especially in order to avoid a difficult situation. This may be based on the idea of a person fleeing down a road and raising dust as they go. Another theory is that it relates to a person taking a laxative powder and so having to rush to the toilet. A more genteel toilet-related expression is the euphemistic powder your nose, recorded since the 1920s.