verdigris
Noun · VerbOpen English WordNet
Noun (2)
- a blue or green powder used as a paint pigmentSynonyms: cupric acetateType of pigment
- a green patina that forms on copper or brass or bronze that has been exposed to the air or water for long periods of timeType of patina
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: F. vert-de-gris, apparently from verd, vert, green + de of + gris gray, but really a corruption of LL. viride aeris (equivalent to L. aerugo), from L. viridis green + aes, aeris, brass. See Verdant, and 2d Ore.
1. Chemistry A green poisonous substance used as a pigment and drug, obtained by the action of acetic acid on copper, and consisting essentially of a complex mixture of several basic copper acetates.
2. The green rust formed on copper. colloquial
☞ This rust is a carbonate of copper, and should not be confounded with true verdigris. United States Dispensory
Blue verdigris Chemistry, a verdigris having a blue color, used as a pigment, etc. — Distilled verdigris Old Chem., an acid copper acetate; — so called because the acetic acid used in making it was obtained from distilled vinegar. — Verdigris green, clear bluish green, the color of verdigris.
To cover, or coat, with verdigris. rare “An old verdigrised brass bugle.” Nathaniel Hawthorne
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54