powders

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of powder.

   The chemist labeled the various powders by their melting points.

   Festival crowds threw handfuls of brilliant powders into the air.

   Note

   Most senses of powder name a substance, so the plural is the countable use: it counts kinds or portions rather than amounts. Talc is simply powder; a chemist's shelf holds many powders, each a different substance. The same holds for gunpowder, snow and even the color. The identical spelling also serves the verb form (she powders her nose), and only the sentence tells you which one you are reading.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of powder.

   The makeup artist powders the actor's forehead under the hot studio lights.

   A light frost powders the rooftops on the coldest mornings.

   Note

   Whether an object follows changes the meaning. With one, it sprinkles or grinds: a frost powders the rooftops, a mill powders the grain. Without one, it means putting powder on one's own skin or hair, or crumbling into powder. In slang the intransitive use can also mean leaving suddenly, the same sense as take a powder, so "he powders" may mean he is gone.

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