English edit

Etymology edit

See Luna (silver in alchemy) + caustic.

Noun edit

lunar caustic (uncountable)

  1. (chemistry, obsolete) Silver nitrate fused into a stick and used for cauterizing.
    • 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 78:
      However, the doctor soon relieved his sufferings, though the treatment was severe; nothing short of an application of lunar caustic allayed the inflammation.

Translations edit