Luminol
//ˈljuːmɪnɒl// noun, verb
noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The compound 5-amino-2,3-dihydro-1,4-phthalazinedione, which exhibits blue chemiluminescence when mixed with an appropriate oxidizing agent. countable, uncountable
"The board was fully supportive, Mr. McDevitt said, even when Mr. Wheeler needed to buy a gallon of cow’s blood and a supply of luminol, a blood-detection chemical."
- 2 a compound (5-amino-2,3-dihydro-1,4-phthalazinedione) that emits light when it comes into contact with blood wordnet
Verb
- 1 To test or subject a sample or an individual to a luminol agent in order to locate traces of blood. transitive
"Luminoling of material can establish unequivocally that no blood is present."
Example
More examples"The board was fully supportive, Mr. McDevitt said, even when Mr. Wheeler needed to buy a gallon of cow’s blood and a supply of luminol, a blood-detection chemical."
Etymology
First use appears in 1934 in a paper by E. Huntress, L. Stanley, and A. Parker. The verbal form first appears c. 1997, although the exact date of its first appearance is uncertain.
Related phrases
More for "luminol"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.