melinite

[ mel-uh-nahyt ]

/ ˈmɛl əˌnaɪt /

a high explosive containing picric acid.

Origin of melinite

1885–90; < French mélinite < Greek mḗlin(os) made of apples (derivative of mêlon apple) + French -ite -ite¹

Explosive shells of melinite are the leading idea in France.

Buchanan's Journal of Man, August 1887 |Various
That shell will be cherished after extraction of its fuse and melinite charge.

Four Months Besieged |H. H. S. Pearse
The British call theirs "lyddite," the French "melinite" and the Japanese "shimose."

Creative Chemistry |Edwin E. Slosson
Cellars may give protection from fire or melinite; but they are worse than death traps against the heavy fumes of poisonous gas.

America's War for Humanity |Thomas Herbert Russell

With melinite you know the worst at once; it doesn't hang round like boxes of ammunition, for instance.

Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 153, Oct. 3, 1917 |Various

melinite

/ (ˈmɛlɪˌnaɪt) /

a high explosive made from picric acid

C19: via French from Greek mēlinos (colour) of a quince, from mēlon fruit, quince