Min·er·al, a.
1. Of or pertaining to minerals; consisting of a mineral or of minerals; as, a mineral substance.
2. Impregnated with minerals; as, mineral waters.
Mineral acids Chem., inorganic acids, as sulphuric, nitric, phosphoric, hydrochloric, acids, etc., as distinguished from the organic acids.
Mineral blue, the name usually given to azurite, when reduced to an impalpable powder for coloring purposes.
Mineral candle, a candle made of paraffin.
Mineral caoutchouc, an elastic mineral pitch, a variety of bitumen, resembling caoutchouc in elasticity and softness. See Caoutchouc, and Elaterite.
Mineral chameleon Chem. See Chameleon mineral, under Chameleon.
Mineral charcoal. See under Charcoal.
Mineral cotton. See Mineral wool (below).
Mineral green, a green carbonate of copper; malachite.
Mineral kingdom Nat. Sci., that one of the three grand divisions of nature which embraces all inorganic objects, as distinguished from plants or animals.
Mineral oil. See Naphtha, and Petroleum.
Mineral paint, a pigment made chiefly of some natural mineral substance, as red or yellow iron ocher.
Mineral patch. See Bitumen, and Asphalt.
Mineral right, the right of taking minerals from land.
Mineral salt Chem., a salt of a mineral acid.
Mineral tallow, a familiar name for hatchettite, from its fatty or spermaceti-like appearance.
Mineral water. See under Water.
Mineral wax. See Ozocerite.
Mineral wool, a fibrous wool-like material, made by blowing a powerful jet of air or steam through melted slag. It is a poor conductor of heat.
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Char·coal n.
1. Impure carbon prepared from vegetable or animal substances; esp., coal made by charring wood in a kiln, retort, etc., from which air is excluded. It is used for fuel and in various mechanical, artistic, and chemical processes.
2. Fine Arts Finely prepared charcoal in small sticks, used as a drawing implement.
Animal charcoal, a fine charcoal prepared by calcining bones in a closed vessel; -- used as a filtering agent in sugar refining, and as an absorbent and disinfectant.
Charcoal blacks, the black pigment, consisting of burnt ivory, bone, cock, peach stones, and other substances.
Charcoal drawing Fine Arts, a drawing made with charcoal. See Charcoal, 2. Until within a few years this material has been used almost exclusively for preliminary outline, etc., but at present many finished drawings are made with it.
Charcoal point, a carbon pencil prepared for use in an electric light apparatus.
Mineral charcoal, a term applied to silky fibrous layers of charcoal, interlaminated in beds of ordinary bituminous coal; -- known to miners as mother of coal.
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