sal volatile

Meanings

nounsal volatile (uncountable)

uncountableAmmonium carbonate; especially a solution of this used to restore someone from a faint.
... as for Miss Swartz, the rich woolly-haired mulatto from St. Kitt's, on the day Amelia went away, she was in such a passion of tears that they were obliged to send for Dr. Floss, and half tipsify her with sal volatile.
1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 1, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC
Synonyms: baker's ammonia, hartshorn salt, salt of hartshorn

nounAmmonium carbonate; especially a solution of this used to restore someone from a faint.

nouna solution of ammonium carbonate in ammonia water and alcohol

Similar

spirits of ammonia

Broader

Also see

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

From Latin sal volatile, literally "volatile salt".

More words from Latin

Cite this entry

APA

sal volatile. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sal%20volatile

MLA

“sal volatile.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sal%20volatile. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sal volatile,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sal%20volatile.