Meaning & use
Hartshorn
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An old name for ammonium carbonate, historically used as smelling salts, originally obtained from the antlers of a hart (male deer).
See it in a sentence
In Victorian novels, a fainting lady was often revived with a whiff of hartshorn.
The apothecary kept a small vial of hartshorn for emergencies.
A note on using this word
Literally 'hart's horn'; the substance was originally distilled from deer antlers before synthetic production replaced it.
Words with a similar meaning
smelling saltsammonium carbonate
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