acid Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun any of various water-soluble compounds having a sour taste and capable of turning litmus red and reacting with a base to form a salt
  2. noun street name for lysergic acid diethylamide
    Elvis; Zen; dose; battery-acid; back breaker; window pane; pane; Lucy in the sky with diamonds; loony toons; dot; superman.
  3. adjective satellite harsh or corrosive in tone
    blistering; acerbic; acrid; vitriolic; virulent; sulphurous; acerb; sulfurous; caustic; bitter.
    • an acerbic tone piercing otherwise flowery prose
    • a barrage of acid comments
    • her acrid remarks make her many enemies
    • bitter words
    • blistering criticism
    • caustic jokes about political assassination, talk-show hosts and medical ethics
    • a sulfurous denunciation
    • a vitriolic critique
  4. adjective satellite being sour to the taste
    acidic; acidulent; acidulous.
  5. adjective satellite having the characteristics of an acid
    • an acid reaction

WordNet

Ac"id adjective
Etymology
L. acidus sour, fr. the root ak to be sharp: cf. F. acide. Cf. Acute.
Definitions
  1. Sour, sharp, or biting to the taste; tart; having the taste of vinegar: as, acid fruits or liquors. Also fig.: Sour-tempered.
    He was stern and his face as acid as ever. A. Trollope.
  2. Of or pertaining to an acid; as, acid reaction.
Ac"id noun
Definitions
  1. A sour substance.
  2. (Chem.) One of a class of compounds, generally but not always distinguished by their sour taste, solubility in water, and reddening of vegetable blue or violet colors. They are also characterized by the power of destroying the distinctive properties of alkalies or bases, combining with them to form salts, at the same time losing their own peculiar properties. They all contain hydrogen, united with a more negative element or radical, either alone, or more generally with oxygen, and take their names from this negative element or radical. Those which contain no oxygen are sometimes called hydracids in distinction from the others which are called oxygen acids or oxacids. ✍ In certain cases, sulphur, selenium, or tellurium may take the place of oxygen, and the corresponding compounds are called respectively sulphur acids or sulphacids, selenium acids, or tellurium acids. When the hydrogen of an acid is replaced by a positive element or radical, a salt is formed, and hence acids are sometimes named as salts of hydrogen; as hydrogen nitrate for nitric acid, hydrogen sulphate for sulphuric acid, etc. In the old chemistry the name acid was applied to the oxides of the negative or nonmetallic elements, now sometimes called anhydrides.

Webster 1913