noun
or ni·tro·glycerine | ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷ at nitro- +
Etymology: International Scientific Vocabulary nitr- + glycerin; probably originally formed as French nitroglycérine
: a heavy oily explosive poisonous liquid compound C 3 H 5 (ONO 2 ) 3 that is almost colorless when pure and has a sweet taste, that is obtained by nitrating glycerol, that burns quietly in the open air but explodes on heating in a closed vessel or especially on percussion with the formation of about 10,000 times its own volume of gas, and that is used chiefly in making dynamites and propellant explosives (as blasting gelatin) and in medicine as a vasodilator (as in angina pectoris) — called also glyceryl trinitrate