gunpowder

CEFRB2

/ˈɡʌnˌpaʊdə/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

Examples

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Also pronounced

Deep Dive

Extra meanings

To destroy with gunpowder.
An explosive mixture of saltpetre (potassium nitrate), charcoal and sulfur; formerly used in gunnery but now mostly used in fireworks.
Idli podi/milagai podi; ground-up dry spices mixed with oil and ghee and served alongside idli or dosa.

In context

We must prevent the fire from reaching the gunpowder at any cost.
[…] he was […] never getting into quarrels with his neighbors and gunpowdering them out of house and home. His subjects loved him.
They have been a bold, heroic, and purely self dependent nation, never having either courted,—or been subdued by—other Tribes or Europeans. But what early mind—a power—could face gunpowder and the ﬁrelocks? Hence their annihilation!

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

The word in print, with each source given in full.

They have been a bold, heroic, and purely self dependent nation, never having either courted,—or been subdued by—other Tribes or Europeans. But what early mind—a power—could face gunpowder and the ﬁrelocks? Hence their annihilation!
ca. 1823, William E. Cormack, Cormack Papers, page 19/84 (note: on the annihilation of the Beothuk)
[…] he was […] never getting into quarrels with his neighbors and gunpowdering them out of house and home. His subjects loved him.
1875, John H. Kingsbury, Kingsbury Sketches, page 54
Some restaurants try and give their dosas the "ethnic" touch by slipping along a small dish of mulaga podi-gunpowder mixed with oil as well, but that isn't always enough.
1989, Bombay: The City Magazine, page 26
It was a hardcore Andhra lunch from a restaurant famous for its lunch meals. And that is where I had my first run-in with 'gunpowder'. And to be honest, I hated it.
2015 June 12, Priyadarshini Nandy, “South India's Spice Hero: How to Make the Famous Gunpowder”, in NDTV
In fact, I’ve long suspected that the popularity of gunpowder or molagapodi outside South India has little to do with the burst of flavours it serves.
2020 May 27, Pooja Pillai, “The Back Burner: Homemade molagapodi is easier than you think”, in The Indian Express

Looking a word up is the easy part. LexUp remembers which words you have met and brings them back at the point you were about to forget them.

From gun + powder.