Epsom salt
noun
Often Epsom salts. Chemistry, Pharmacology.
hydrated magnesium sulfate, MgSO4⋅7H2O, occurring as small colorless crystals: used in fertilizers, the dyeing of fabrics, leather tanning, etc., and in medicine chiefly as a cathartic.
Origin of Epsom salt
1760–70; after
Epsom; so called from its presence in the local mineral water
Example sentences from the Web for epsom salt
That which is made with the vitriolic acid, may be condensed into crystals similar in all respects to epsom-salt.
Those who would prepare a magnesia from epsom-salt, may use the following process.