brimstone

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   An old name for the element sulfur.

   The old chemistry text still referred to sulfur as brimstone.

2. 2
   noun

   The fire and sulfur of hell; damnation.

   The preacher warned of fire and brimstone for those who sinned.

From Middle English brymston, brimston, bremston, forms of brinston, brenston, bernston, from Old English brynstān (“brimstone”, literally “burn-stone”), equivalent to brian + stone, or burn + stone. Cognate with Scots brunstane (“brimstone”), Icelandic brennisteinn (“sulfur / sulphur, brimstone”), German Bernstein (“amber”). Compare also brimfire. More at burn, stone. Although once a synonym for sulfur, the word is now largely restricted to poetic and Biblical usage.

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