mercuric chloride

noun

: a heavy crystalline poisonous compound HgCl₂ used as a disinfectant and fungicide and in photography

Examples of mercuric chloride in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

At the time of his professorial appointment to Johns Hopkins Hospital, Halsted routinely relied on the use of antibacterial solutions of mercuric chloride and carbolic acid in the operating theatre. —Rebecca Kreston, Discover Magazine, 29 Aug. 2015

Word History

First Known Use

1869, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

mercuric chloride

noun

: a heavy crystalline poisonous compound HgCl₂ used as a disinfectant and fungicide and in photography

called also bichloride, bichloride of mercury, corrosive sublimate, mercury bichloride