a pale-yellow, nonmetallic chemical element found in crystalline or amorphous form: it burns with a blue flame and a stifling odor and is used in vulcanizing rubber and in making matches, paper, gunpowder, insecticides, sulfuric acid, etc.: symbol, S; at. no., 16
2.
any of numerous small to medium-sized butterflies (family Pieridae) having yellow or orange wings with dark borders
: in full sulfur butterfly
3.
yellow with a greenish tinge
often sulfur yellow
verb transitive
4.
sulfurize
Word origin
ME sulphur < L
Examples of 'sulfur' in a sentence
sulfur
A sulfur butterfly danced a clumsy circle around Diego's head.
Gregg Andrew Hurwitz MINUTES TO BURN (2001)
All related terms of 'sulfur'
sulphur
Sulphur is a yellow chemical which has a strong smell .
lime sulfur
solution made by boiling together sulfur, water, and lime : used as an insecticide and fungicide
sulfur tuft
a poisonous basidiomycetous fungus, Hypholoma fasciculare, having a sulphurous yellow cap and found in clumps on and around broad-leaved trees
sulfur-bottom
→ blue whale
sulfur spring
a natural hot spring containing sulphur , believed to have curative properties
sulfur dioxide
a heavy, colorless, suffocating gas, SO 2 , easily liquefied and used as a bleach , disinfectant , preservative , etc.
sulfur trioxide
a white corrosive substance existing in three crystalline forms of which the stable ( alpha- ) form is usually obtained as silky needles . It is produced by the oxidation of sulphur dioxide , and is used in the sulphonation of organic compounds. Formula: SO 3
sulfur(IV) oxide
a colourless soluble pungent gas produced by burning sulphur . It is both an oxidizing and a reducing agent and is used in the manufacture of sulphuric acid, the preservation of a wide range of foodstuffs ( E220 ), bleaching , and disinfecting . Formula: SO 2
sulfur(VI) oxide
a white corrosive substance existing in three crystalline forms of which the stable ( alpha- ) form is usually obtained as silky needles . It is produced by the oxidation of sulphur dioxide , and is used in the sulphonation of organic compounds. Formula: SO 3
sulphur spring
a natural hot spring containing sulphur , believed to have curative properties
sulphur(VI) oxide
a white corrosive substance existing in three crystalline forms of which the stable ( alpha- ) form is usually obtained as silky needles . It is produced by the oxidation of sulphur dioxide , and is used in the sulphonation of organic compounds. Formula: SO 3