gun powder

Noun (1)

gunpowder (countable and uncountable, plural gunpowders)

1. An explosive mixture of saltpetre (potassium nitrate), charcoal and sulfur; formerly used in gunnery but now mostly used in fireworks.
   • They have been a bold, heroic, and purely self dependent nation, never having either courted,—or been subdued by—other Tribes or Europeans. But what early mind—a power—could face gunpowder and the firelocks? Hence their annihilation!ca. 1823, William E. Cormack, Cormack Papers, page 19/84 (note: on the annihilation of the Beothuk)

Noun (2)

gunpowder (uncountable)

1. (India, informal) Idli podi/milagai podi; ground-up dry spices mixed with oil and ghee and served alongside idli or dosa.
   • Some restaurants try and give their dosas the "ethnic" touch by slipping along a small dish of mulaga podi-gunpowder mixed with oil as well, but that isn't always enough.1989, Bombay: The City Magazine, page 26

See all 3 meanings of gunpowder