Search Result for "destructive distillation":
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (1)

1. heating a solid substance in a closed container and collecting the volatile products;


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Destructive \De*struc"tive\, a. [L. destructivus: cf. F. destructif.] Causing destruction; tending to bring about ruin, death, or devastation; ruinous; fatal; productive of serious evil; mischievous; pernicious; -- often with of or to; as, intemperance is destructive of health; evil examples are destructive to the morals of youth. [1913 Webster] Time's destructive power. --Wordsworth. [1913 Webster] Destructive distillation. See Distillation. Destructive sorties(Logic), a process of reasoning which involves the denial of the first of a series of dependent propositions as a consequence of the denial of the last; a species of reductio ad absurdum. --Whately. Syn: Mortal; deadly; poisonous; fatal; ruinous; malignant; baleful; pernicious; mischievous. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Distillation \Dis`til*la"tion\ (d[i^]s`t[i^]l*l[=a]"sh[u^]n), n. [F. distillation, L. destillatio.] 1. The act of falling in drops, or the act of pouring out in drops. [1913 Webster] 2. That which falls in drops. [R.] --Johnson [1913 Webster] 3. (Chem.) The separation of the volatile parts of a substance from the more fixed; specifically, the operation of driving off gas or vapor from volatile liquids or solids, by heat in a retort or still, and the condensation of the products as far as possible by a cool receiver, alembic, or condenser; rectification; vaporization; condensation; as, the distillation of illuminating gas and coal, of alcohol from sour mash, or of boric acid in steam. [1913 Webster] Note: The evaporation of water, its condensation into clouds, and its precipitation as rain, dew, frost, snow, or hail, is an illustration of natural distillation. [1913 Webster] 4. The substance extracted by distilling. --Shak. [1913 Webster] Destructive distillation (Chem.), the distillation, especially of complex solid substances, so that the ultimate constituents are separated or evolved in new compounds, -- usually requiring a high degree of heat; as, the destructive distillation of soft coal or of wood. Dry distillation, the distillation of substances by themselves, or without the addition of water or of other volatile solvent; as, the dry distillation of citric acid. Fractional distillation. (Chem.) See under Fractional. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

destructive distillation n 1: heating a solid substance in a closed container and collecting the volatile products