a smokeless rocket propellant composed of roughly equal proportions of the explosives nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine
ballistite in American English
(ˈbæləˌstait)
noun
Chemistry
a smokeless powder consisting of nitroglycerine and cellulose nitrate chiefly in a 40 to 60 percent ratio: used as a solid fuel for rockets
Word origin
[1890–95; formerly a trademark]This word is first recorded in the period 1890–95. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: blip, cholesterol, neoclassicism, plein-air, wireless