from
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.
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Time's destructive power. --Wordsworth.
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{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.
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from
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.
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2. That which falls in drops. [R.] --Johnson
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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.
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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.
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4. The substance extracted by distilling. --Shak.
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{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}.
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