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countable and uncountable, plural kieselguhrs
Diatomaceous earth, a kind of soft rock containing the remains of diatoms; it absorbs nitroglycerine and is used to manufacture dynamite. quotations examples
It was the only name anybody seemed to know him by, “Kieselguhr” being a kind of fine clay, used to soak up nitroglycerine and stabilize it into dynamite.
2006, Thomas Pynchon, “Iceland Spar”, in Against the Day, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Press, page 171