Word.ws English Dictionary

strong water

strong water noun: a strong solvent, (particularly) nitric acid.

Noun

strong water (plural strong waters)

  1. (archaic) A strong solvent, (particularly) nitric acid.
  2. (archaic) A strong drink, (particularly) distilled spirits.
    • Now, if there be six Coppers, the first two are thinnest and biggest, in which the juyce is first boiled; but not by a very strong fire, for that will make the Scum to rise, by casting in Temper, as they call it: the first of which that ariseth is little worth; but afterwards, what is scum'd off...1672, William Hughes, The American Physitian..., pages 33-34
    • Strong-Waters are apt to give me the Head-ache—I hope, Madam, you will excuse me.1728, John Gay, The Beggar's Opera, III.8

Forms of strong water

pluralstrong waters
alternative formstrong-water

Origin of strong water

Calque of Latin aqua fortis, named for their ability to dissolve metals.

Questions about strong water

What does strong water mean?
Strong water means a strong solvent, (particularly) nitric acid.
What part of speech is strong water?
Strong water is a noun.
What is the plural of strong water?
The plural of strong water is strong waters.

Words near strong water in the dictionary

  1. strong suit
  2. strong suits
  3. strong typing
  4. strong verb
  5. strong verbs
  6. strong water
  7. strong waters
  8. strong-arm
  9. strong-armed
  10. strong-armer
  11. strong-armers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: strong water (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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