mor|dant

mor|dant «MR duhnt», adjective, noun, verb.

–adj.

1. biting; cutting; sarcastic: »

a mordant sense of humor. The mordant criticism hurt his feelings. Restraining his tongue from mordant allusions to that “prancing, red-haired fellow” (John Galsworthy).

SYNONYM(S): caustic.

2. that fixes colors in dyeing.

3. acute; burning: »

mordant pain.

4. = corrosive. (Cf. ↑corrosive)

–n.

1. a substance that fixes colors in dyeing, such as tannic acid or a salt of a metal or metallic compound. A mordant acts by combining in a chemical reaction with a dye to form an insoluble compound that will not wash from the fibers, as of cloth or leather.

2. an acid that eats into metal, used in etching.

–v.t.

to treat with a mordant: »

The cloth may be…mordanted as usual with tin, and then dyed (Ernest Spon).

╂[< Old French mordant, present participle of mordre to bite < Latin mordēre. See etym. of doublet mordent. (Cf. ↑mordent)]

–mor´dant|ly, adverb.