gunpowder

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)An explosive mixture of saltpetre (potassium nitrate), charcoal and sulfur; formerly used in gunnery but now mostly used in fireworks.

   “They have been a bold, heroic, and purely self dependent nation, never having either courted,—or been subdued by—other Tribes or Europeans. But what early mind—a power—could face gunpowder and the firelocks? Hence their annihilation!”

2. (abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable)Ellipsis of gunpowder tea.
3. (India, informal, uncountable)Idli podi/milagai podi; ground-up dry spices mixed with oil and ghee and served alongside idli or dosa.

   “Some restaurants try and give their dosas the "ethnic" touch by slipping along a small dish of mulaga podi-gunpowder mixed with oil as well, but that isn't always enough.”

   “It was a hardcore Andhra lunch from a restaurant famous for its lunch meals. And that is where I had my first run-in with 'gunpowder'. And to be honest, I hated it.”

   “In fact, I’ve long suspected that the popularity of gunpowder or molagapodi outside South India has little to do with the burst of flavours it serves.”

verb

1. (transitive)To destroy with gunpowder.

   “[…] he was […] never getting into quarrels with his neighbors and gunpowdering them out of house and home. His subjects loved him.”