a. [mod. f. Gr. ἄνῡδρ-ος waterless (f. ἀν priv. + ὔδωρ water) + -OUS.]

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  1.  Chem. Having no water in its composition: said of salts, crystals, destitute of water of crystallization, etc. Cf. ANHYDRIDE.

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1819.  Pantolog., I. s.v., Anhidrous Sulphate of Lime.

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1827.  Faraday, Chem. Manip., xxiv. 610. Reduce the substance to an anhydrous state.

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1833.  Penny Cycl., I. 281. The vapour of anhydrous (waterless) alcohol.

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1875.  J. W. Dawson, Dawn of Life, v. 108. An anhydrous silicate of lime and magnesia.

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  2.  transf. Waterless, sapless, dried up.

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1872.  O. W. Holmes, Poet Breakf.-t., ix. 294. That exsiccated and almost anhydrous organism.

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1874.  in Coues, Birds of N.-W., 405. The sterile and anhydrous region of the central desert.

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