black powder

noun

an explosive powder consisting of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal, used chiefly in old guns fired for sport, in fireworks, and for spotting charges in practice bombs; black gunpowder.

Words nearby black powder

black pine, black pit, black plague, black pope, black poplar, black powder, black power, black prince, black propaganda, black pudding, black quarter

Example sentences from the Web for black powder

  • Down leftward a black-powder gun was popping on the film-cut ridge of Bluebank.

    From Capetown to Ladysmith |G. W. Steevens

  • As compared with other explosives, gunpowder or black-powder has certain advantages.

    The New Gresham Encyclopedia |Various

  • The lead balls of their own black-powder rifles would have plunked into the water-logged wood without visible effect.

    The Return |H. Beam Piper and John J. McGuire

  • They went back to a low-order steam-power, black-powder, culture, and haven't gotten beyond that to this day.

    Time Crime |H. Beam Piper

British Dictionary definitions for black powder

black powder

noun

another name for gunpowder