I. noun
or sul·phur ˈsəlfə(r)
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English soufre, sulphre, sulphur brimstone, from Old French & Latin; Middle English soufre from Old French, from Latin sulphur, sulfur; Middle English sulphre, sulphur from Latin sulphur, sulfur, sulpur, probably from Oscan
1. : a nonmetallic multivalent tasteless odorless water-insoluble element that occurs in large quantities either free especially in yellow orthorhombic crystals or in masses often associated with limestone, gypsum, and other minerals (as in volcanic regions in Sicily and Japan and in salt domes in Louisiana and Texas) or combined especially in sulfides (as pyrites and galena) and sulfates (as gypsum and barite), that is also a constituent of proteins and various other compounds found in animals and plants, that exists in several allotropic forms including the ordinary yellow orthorhombic alpha form stable below 95.5° C and changing successively to a pale yellow monoclinic crystalline beta form, a pale yellow mobile liquid, and a dark red to brown very viscous liquid as the temperature is raised to about 200° C, that burns in air with a blue flame forming sulfur dioxide and a trace of sulfur trioxide, that resembles oxygen chemically but is less active and more acidic, and that is used chiefly in making sulfur dioxide, sulfuric acid, carbon disulfide, and other sulfur compounds, in the pulp and paper industry, in rubber vulcanization, in metallurgy, in petroleum refining, in black powder, matches, and fireworks, in agriculture as a fungicide and insecticide, and in medicine in treating skin diseases — called also brimstone ; symbol S ; see flowers of sulfur , frasch process , hydrogen sulfide , plastic sulfur , precipitated sulfur , rhombic sulfur ; element table
2. sulphur , archaic : a sulfide or similar compound of sulfur
3. sulphur : something (as excited, inflamed, or scathing talk or language) that suggests sulfur
II. adjective
or sulphur “
: of, relating to, or resembling sulfur : containing or impregnated with sulfur
III. transitive verb
or sulphur “
( -ed/-ing/-s )
: to treat with sulfur, with fumes of burning sulfur or sulfur dioxide, or with sulfites (as in fumigating, bleaching, or preserving) : sulfurize
sulfuring is necessary in the preparation of most kinds of dried fruit — T.H.Jackson & Barbara Roger