ammoniac adjective & noun. [ǝ'mǝʊnɪak] Also as noun in Latin form ammoniacum [-ɪakǝm]; armoniac. ME.
[Old French armoniac (14), amm- (15) from Latin ammoniacus, -um from Greek ammōniakos, -on of Ammon, used as noun for the salt and the gum, which were said to be obtained (the former from camel dung) from near the temple of Jupiter Ammon, Siwa, Egypt.]
A. adjective.
1. sal ammoniac, ammonium chloride, a hard white crystalline salt. ME.

2. gum ammoniac, a bitter, odoriferous gum resin obtained from certain N. African or Asian umbelliferous plants, and having some medicinal use; esp. that from Dorema ammoniacum, native to Persia. LME.

3. Ammoniacal. Now rare or obsolete. M17.
b. noun. Gum ammoniac. LME.

[TahlilGaran] English Dictionary ▲