Gunpowder plot

Gunpowder plot
Gunpowder Gun"pow`der, n. (Chem.) A black, granular, explosive substance, consisting of an intimate mechanical mixture of saltpeter, charcoal, and sulphur. It is used in gunnery and blasting. [1913 Webster]

Note: Gunpowder consists of from 70 to 80 per cent of niter, with 10 to 15 per cent of each of the other ingredients. Its explosive energy is due to the fact that it contains the necessary amount of oxygen for its own combustion, and liberates gases (chiefly nitrogen and carbon dioxide), which occupy a thousand or fifteen hundred times more space than the powder which generated them. [1913 Webster]

{Gunpowder pile driver}, a pile driver, the hammer of which is thrown up by the explosion of gunpowder.

{Gunpowder plot} (Eng. Hist.), a plot to destroy the King, Lords, and Commons, in revenge for the penal laws against Catholics. As Guy Fawkes, the agent of the conspirators, was about to fire the mine, which was placed under the House of Lords, he was seized, Nov. 5, 1605. Hence, Nov. 5 is known in England as {Guy Fawkes Day}.

{Gunpowder tea}, a species of fine green tea, each leaf of which is rolled into a small ball or pellet. [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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  • Gunpowder Plot — Gunpowder Plot, the a plan by English Catholics led by Guy Fawkes to kill King James I and destroy Parliament by blowing it up with explosives on November 5th 1605. The plan failed when one of the Catholics warned a relative not to attend… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • Gunpowder Plot — n. the unsuccessful plot (1605) to blow up King James I of England and both Houses of Parliament …   English World dictionary

  • Gunpowder Plot — The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, or the Powder Treason, as it was known at the time, [Antonia Fraser, The Gunpowder Plot: Terror and Faith in 1605 , London, 2002, Author s Note, pg. xv. ISBN 0 75381 401 3] was a failed assassination attempt by a group …   Wikipedia

  • Gunpowder Plot — Die Schwarzpulververschwörer, Zeichnung von Crispijn van de Passe dem Älteren. Dritter von rechts: Guy Fawkes. Der Gunpowder Plot (deutsch: Schießpulververschwörung seinerzeit als powder treason, „Pulververrat“, bekannt) war ein Versuch von… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Gunpowder-Plot — Die Schwarzpulververschwörer, Zeichnung von Crispijn van de Passe dem Älteren. Dritter von rechts: Guy Fawkes. Die Schießpulververschwörung (engl. Gunpowder Plot, seiner Zeit als Powder treason (Pulververrat) bekannt) war ein Versuch von… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Gunpowder Plot — an unsuccessful plot to kill King James I and the assembled Lords and Commons by blowing up Parliament, November 5, 1605, in revenge for the laws against Roman Catholics. Cf. Guy Fawkes Day. * * * (1605) Conspiracy by English Roman Catholic… …   Universalium

  • Gunpowder Plot, The — • Oath taken May, 1604, plot discovered November, 1605. Robert Catesby, the originator of the Powder Plot, owned estates at Lapworth and Ashby St. Legers Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006 …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Gunpowder Plot, the — Gunpowder ,Plot, the noun a plan in 1605 by Roman Catholics in England to destroy Parliament in an explosion. The plan failed, but is remembered in Britain every year on GUY FAWKES NIGHT …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • Gunpowder Plot — /ˈgʌnpaʊdə plɒt/ (say gunpowduh plot) noun an unsuccessful plot or supposed plot led by Guy Fawkes to kill James I, the Lords, and the Commons assembled in the Houses of Parliament, London, on 5 November 1605, by an explosion of gunpowder, in… …  

  • GUNPOWDER PLOT —    an attempt on the part of a conspiracy to blow up the Parliament of England on Nov. 5, 1605, on the day of the opening, when it was expected the King, Lords, and Commons would be all assembled; the conspirators were a small section of Roman… …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

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