propellantadj.n.

1644 J. Bulwer Chirologia 43 The Hand propellent to the leftward.

1712 Philos. Trans. 1710–12 (Royal Soc.) 27 27 The Propellent force of the Heart is least at the Capillary Arteries.

1738 R. Hooker Weekly Misc. (ed. 2) I. xl. 337 If the Tendency in corupt Men to Sin be great, he has ordain'd an infinitely greater and propellant Biass (eternal Misery) on the other Side.

1765 tr. G. van Swieten Comm. Aphorisms Boerhaave (ed. 2) I. 394 All the remedies..should be directed as much as possible to the places where the obstruction is formed: by such applications as are derivative, attractive, and propellant.

1800 Rep. on Deb. House of Commons Irel. 5–6 Feb. 58 The great principles of action, viz. symphathy and fame, influencing them no longer in favour of their own country; but propellant motives to forge Ireland, to look up to England.

1858 W. Greener Gunnery in 1858 21 Gunpowder is an explosive propellant compound... The terms, explosive and propellant,..are not convertible; for a chemical mixture may possess the explosive power in a much higher degree than the propellant.

1919 R. H. Goddard in Smithsonian Misc. Coll. 71 ii. 6 This enables high chamber pressures to be employed..and also permits most of the mass of the rocket to consist of propellant material.

1945 Soap & Sanitary Chemicals Apr. 125/3 Methyl chloride is an excellent propellant gas for aerosols to be used against insects out of doors.

1999 G. Cox Dict. Sport vii. 217 The unusually lengthy time between the firing pin hitting a bullet's percussion cap and the propellant charge catching alight.

1654 W. Charleton Physiologia Epicuro-Gassendo-Charltoniana i. v. 47 In this Case of the Experiment, in regard there is no place left behind by the Propellent, into which the compressed parts of the aer may be effused.

1661 T. Whitaker Elenchus of Opinions Cure of Small Pox 78 The milk is sufficiently nutritive and healing, and the Saffron a cordial propellent of the cause in ebullition from the Centre to the circumference.

1739 tr. H. Boerhaave Treat. Materia Medica Index p. xxiii Propellents, what, See Stimulants.

1765 tr. G. van Swieten Comm. Aphorisms Boerhaave (ed. 2) VI. 379 Propellants are such remedies as increase the motion of the humours through the vessels.

1814 J. Jebb Let. 9 Aug. in J. Jebb & A. Knox Thirty Years' Corr. (1834) II. 189 Providence has placed me in a narrow sphere..without any of the propellents which variety affords.

1834 R. H. Horne Spirit Peers & People iii. v. 151 Events roll onward tow'rds the precipice, O'er which the infuriate mass will roll, while we The cool propellants, governing our force,..Rein up, recoil, and rear our fronts to heaven.

1881 W. W. Greener Gun & its Devel. 368 In all saloon rifles and pistols the propellant is fulminating powder contained in a small copper case.

1917 W. S. Churchill in M. Gilbert Winston S. Churchill (1977) IV. Compan. i. 125 What proportion of our total explosive or propellant output could be based upon 10 million gallons of whiskey?

1922 T. M. Lowry Inorg. Chem. xxxii. 598 Gunpowder as a propellant has now been superseded by smokeless powders.

1969 P. Weiss Sport ii. 27 Sport enthusiasts..defend sport sometimes as though it were a great propellant toward a financially successful life..and the best of agencies for social adjustment.

1989 Industr. & Engin. Chem. Res. 28 431/1 Triaminoguanidine nitrate..has been used primarily as an oxidizer in cool-burning gun propellants for rapid fire weapon systems.

1919 R. H. Goddard in Smithsonian Misc. Coll. 71 ii. 67 Let us assume, for case (a) (many small secondary rockets), as well as for case (b) (large secondary rockets), that the ratio of mass of metal to mass of propellant is the minimum reasonable amount that can be expected.

1948 M. J. Zucrow Princ. Jet Propulsion & Gas Turbines xii. 467 The propellants employed in a rocket motor may be a solid, two liquids (fuel plus oxidizer), or materials containing an adequate supply of available oxygen in their chemical composition (mono-propellants).

1974 Sci. Amer. Aug. 7/1 (advt.) Launch weight of the spacecraft was only 1,108 pounds, including 66 pounds of propellant and 122 pounds of science instruments.

1996 Wired May 131/2 Retro-rockets have many problems: they need more propellant..and, most important, you have to worry about whether they will fire up at precisely the right time.

1945 Soap & Sanitary Chemicals Apr. 127/1 Nitrous oxide also has a pressure too high for it to be practical as a propellant.

1957 H. R. Shepherd in E. Sagarin Cosmetics Sci. & Technol. xxxvi. 804 Some aerosol cosmetics are made with a single propellent.

1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. (rev. ed.) V. 279/1 In the small first-aid water fire extinguisher, a propellant must be provided. Usually this is carbon dioxide.

1978 N.Y. Times 30 Mar. 62/3 The nitrous-oxide cartridges are made for use as the propellant in restaurant-sized equipment for whipping cream.

1996 A. Theroux Secondary Colors 298 The ‘greenhouse effect’ is the result of the ozone affected by chloroflurocarbons (CFCs) in gases widely used in refrigeration equipment and aerosol spray propellants.