# powder
## English
### Alternative forms

* powdre (obsolete)

### Etymology

From Middle English poudre, pouder, pouldre, borrowed from Old French poudre, poldre, puldre, from Latin pulverem, accusative singular of Latin pulvis (“dust, powder”). Doublet of pulver. Compare pollen (“fine flour”), polverine, pulverize.

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ˈpaʊ.də(ɹ)/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -aʊdə(ɹ)

### Noun

powder (countable and uncountable, plural powders)
* The fine particles which are the result of reducing a dry substance by pounding, grinding, or triturating, or the result of decay; dust.
** c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], page 50, column 2:Let me goe grin'd their Bones to powder ſmall, […]
** 2017 February 3, Deborah Orr, “Veg crisis, what veg crisis? If we can’t have courgettes, then let us eat kale”, in The Guardian‎:Let them stop fretting about vegetables denied by the weather and eat chilli powder. Just explain to them that they really shouldn’t think about spiralising it, because that doesn’t work.
* (cosmetics) A mixture of fine dry, sweet-smelling particles applied to the face or other body parts, to reduce shine or to alleviate chaffing.
** 1912, Willa Cather, The Bohemian Girl:She was redolent of violet sachet powder, and had warm, soft, white hands, but she danced divinely, moving as smoothly as the tide coming in.
* An explosive mixture used in gunnery, blasting, etc.; gunpowder.
** c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], page 67, column 2:Tut, tut, good enough to toſſe: foode for Powder, foode for Powder: they'll fill a Pit, as well as better: tuſh man, mortall men, mortall men.
* (informal) Ellipsis of powder snow.; light, dry, fluffy snow.
* Ellipsis of powder blue.; the colour powder blue.

#### Derived terms

* antimonial powder
* anti-shine powder
* Atlas powder
* baby powder
* baking powder
* black powder
* bleaching powder
* Bolivian marching powder
* bread powder
* brown powder
* champagne powder
* chili powder
* cocoa powder
* cold food powder
* Colombian marching powder
* corpse powder
* cube powder
* curry powder
* custard powder
* denture powder
* Dover's powder
* dry powder
* dry powder inhaler
* face powder
* fever powder
* fingerprint powder
* five mineral powder
* five-spice powder
* flash powder
* flea-powder
* fly powder
* food for powder
* garlic powder
* giant powder
* Goa powder
* Goulard's powder
* Gregory's powder
* gunpowder, gun powder
* hair powder
* inheritance powder
* insect powder
* itching powder
* James's powder
* jelly powder
* joy powder
* juvenile powder
* keep one's powder dry
* keep the powder dry
* love powder
* lycopodium powder
* marching powder
* milk powder
* negro powder
* Neptune powder
* nose powder
* not worth the powder
* not worth the powder and shot
* party powder
* pearl powder
* Persian insect powder
* Persian powder
* Peruvian marching powder
* plate powder
* powder-bag
* powder-bed
* powder blue
* powder box
* powder-burn
* powder burn
* powder cap
* powder closet
* powder-coat
* powder-coated
* powder coating
* powder-douce
* powder down
* powder-down feather
* powder-down patch
* powder flask
* powder-forte
* powder horn, powderhorn
* powder hose
* powder hound
* powder hoy
* powder keg
* powder magazine
* powder metallurgy
* powder mill
* powder mine
* powder monkey
* powder of sympathy
* powder one's nose
* powder pink
* powder-post
* powder-post beetle
* powder-posted
* powder puff
* Powder River
* powder room
* powder snow
* priming powder
* prismatic powder
* protein powder
* putty powder
* Rochelle powder
* Schultze powder
* scouring powder
* sedlitz powder
* seidlitz powder
* Shimose powder
* smokeless powder
* stump powder
* sympathetic powder
* take a powder
* take a walkout powder
* talcum powder
* tooth powder
* Tripoli powder
* washing powder

#### Descendants

* Tok Pisin: paura
** → Rotokas: paora
* → Hindi: पाउडार (pāuḍār)
* → Maori: paura
* → Burmese: ပေါင်ဒါ (paungda)
* → Swahili: poda
* → Urdu: پاؤُڈَر (pāuḍar)

#### Translations
### Verb

powder (third-person singular simple present powders, present participle powdering, simple past and past participle powdered)
* (transitive) To reduce to fine particles; to pound, grind, or rub into a powder.
** 25 October 2016, Bettina Elias Siegel writing in New York Times, Should the Food Industry Sneak Vegetables Into Food?
    In desperation, they dried fruits and vegetables in an old food dehydrator they had, then used their coffee grinder to powder the produce...
* (transitive) To sprinkle with powder, or as if with powder.
    to powder one's hair
** 23 March 2016, Seth Augenstein in Laboratory Equipment, FDA Proposes Ban on Powdered Surgical Gloves, Decades after Documenting Health Dangers
    Gloves were powdered for more than a century to allow doctors and surgeons to slip them on more easily.
** 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:A circling zone thou seest / Powdered with stars.
* (intransitive) To use powder on the hair or skin.
** 1778-1787, Frances Burney, The Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay
    If she is grave, and reads steadily on, she dismisses me, whether I am dressed or not; but at all times she never forgets to send me away while she is powdering, with a consideration not to spoil my clothes
* (intransitive) To turn into powder; to become powdery.
** 1934, Edward Knight, The Clinical Journal, volume 63:Ample evidence is brought forward to show that the higher incidence of chronic interstitial nephritis in Queensland is due to lead paint on the verandahs and railings of the houses, which powders easily during the long Australian summer.
* (obsolete, transitive) To sprinkle with salt; to corn, as meat.
* (intransitive, slang) To depart suddenly; to "take a powder".
** 1980, Stephen King, The Wedding Gig:Miss Gibson appeared in the empty hall, her eyes wide and shocked. The little man who had started all the trouble with his singing telegram had powdered.

#### Synonyms

* (to reduce to fine particles): pound, grind, comminute, pulverize, triturate

#### Translations
### See also

* powder on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### Anagrams

* powdre, powred, prowed

## Middle English
### Etymology 1

From Old French poudre.

#### Noun

powder
* Alternative form of poudre

### Etymology 2

From Old French poudrer.

#### Verb

powder
* Alternative form of poudren