Definition of "nitric acid" []

• A transparent, colorless to yellowish, fuming corrosive liquid, HNO3, a highly reactive oxidizing agent used in the production of fertilizers, explosives, and rocket fuels and in a wide variety of industrial metallurgical processes. Also called aqua fortis. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "There had only been enough oxygen in Earth's atmosphere to make the oceans about one-hundredth-normal in nitric acid as it combined with the nitrogen, but rain, rivers, and even estuaries had often been much more concentrated during the fix."
• "As the woman had said, the jailbird's hair was long enough to suggest that outdoor attire was not usual for him, and dark enough to indicate little if any exposure to nitric acid rain."
• "The hundredth-normal nitric acid of the oceans was too dilute to color proteins, but the rain was sometimes another matter."