gunpowder

plural gunpowders

1. countableuncountableAn 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)

2. abbreviationcountableellipsisuncountableEllipsis of gunpowder tea.

present singular third person gunpowders · participle present gunpowdering · participle past gunpowdered · past gunpowdered

1. transitiveTo destroy with gunpowder.

   […] he was […] never getting into quarrels with his neighbors and gunpowdering them out of house and home. His subjects loved him.

   1875, John H. Kingsbury, Kingsbury Sketches, page 54

1. IndiainformaluncountableIdli podi/milagai podi; ground-up dry spices mixed with oil and ghee and served alongside idli or dosa.

   In fact, I’ve long suspected that the popularity of gunpowder or molagapodi outside South India has little to do with the burst of flavours it serves.

   2020 May 27, Pooja Pillai, “The Back Burner: Homemade molagapodi is easier than you think”, in The Indian Express

   2 more examples

   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

   It was a hardcore Andhra lunch from a restaurant famous for its lunch meals. And that is where I had my first run-in with 'gunpowder'. And to be honest, I hated it.

   2015 June 12, Priyadarshini Nandy, “South India's Spice Hero: How to Make the Famous Gunpowder”, in NDTV, archived from the original on 11 Apr 2021