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potash definition

pot·ash (pät′as̸h′)

noun

    1. potassium carbonate (esp. when obtained from wood ashes)
    2. potassium hydroxide
  2. any substance containing potassium; esp., salts derived from natural brines, distillery waste, flue dusts of blast furnaces, etc., whose potassium content is expressed in terms of KO: used in fertilizers, soaps, etc.

Etymology: earlier in pl., potashes < Du potasschen < pot, pot + asch, ash: orig. prepared by evaporating the lixivium of wood ashes in iron pots

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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