Borax

//ˈbɔː.ɹæks// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A white or gray/grey crystalline salt, with a slight alkaline taste, used as a flux, in soldering metals, making enamels, fixing colors/colours on porcelain, and as a soap, etc. uncountable, usually

    "“The best way to clean the machine is to put a pound of borax and a gallon of vinegar in the machine and run the longest, hottest cycle you have,” he says."

  2. 2
    an ore of boron consisting of hydrated sodium borate; used as a flux or cleansing agent wordnet
  3. 3
    The sodium salt of boric acid, Na₂B₄O₇, either anhydrous or with 5 or 10 molecules of water of crystallization; sodium tetraborate. uncountable, usually
  4. 4
    Cheap or tawdry furniture or other works of industrial design. attributive, sometimes, uncountable, usually

    "Furniture isn't made to last thirty years or longer because they took a survey and found that young homemakers like to throw their furniture out and bring in all new, color-coded borax every seven years."

Verb
  1. 1
    To treat with borax. transitive

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English boras, from Anglo-Norman boreis, from Medieval Latin borax, baurach (“borax”), from Arabic بَوْرَق (bawraq), from Middle Persian bwlk' (bōrag), which yielded Persian بوره (bure).

Etymology 2

From Middle English boras, from Anglo-Norman boreis, from Medieval Latin borax, baurach (“borax”), from Arabic بَوْرَق (bawraq), from Middle Persian bwlk' (bōrag), which yielded Persian بوره (bure).

Next best steps

Mini challenge

Unscramble this word: borax