Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Adj.

[Gr. [GREEK] bitter.]

(Chem.)

Pertaining to, or designating, a strong organic acid (called picric acid), intensely bitter.

☞ Picric acid is obtained by treating phenol with strong nitric acid, as a brilliant yellow crystalline substance,

C6H2(NO2)3.OH

. It is used in dyeing silk and wool, and also in the manufacture of explosives, as it is very unstable when heated. Called also

trinitrophenol

, and formerly

carbazotic acid

picric ‎(comparative more picric, superlative most picric)

Designating a type of bitter yellow acid.
- 1920, Peter B. Kyne, The Understanding Heart, Chapter IX:
  Baldy had not moved since lying down, and his regular and somewhat sterterous breathing […] told Monica that he was alive and resting comfortably. “A week of rest and good care and some picric acid on your burns will put you right, Baldy,” Monica told him.
- 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage (2007), page 593:
  “Something in the picric family might do nicely,” Fatou went on, deploying maps and diagrams about the tiny room.