GC: n

S: http://healthychildcarenc.org/PDFs/ccnews_2007_06.pdf (last access: 12 March 2013); http://www.waterandhealth.org/chlorine-bleach-trusted-ally-battle-ebola/ (last access: 31 July 2015).

N: 1. “act of bleaching,” 1887; “a bleaching agent,” 1898, probably directly from bleach (v.). The Old English noun blæce meant “leprosy;” Late Old English also had blæco “paleness,” and Middle English had blech “whitening or bleaching agent.”
2. bleach, solid or liquid chemical used to whiten or remove the natural colour of fibres, yarns, paper, and textile fabrics; in textile finishing the bleaching process is used to produce white cloth, to prepare fabrics for other finishes, or to remove discoloration that has occurred in other processes. Chlorine, sodium hypochlorite, calcium hypochlorite, and hydrogen peroxide are commonly used as bleaches.
Sunlight was the chief bleaching agent up to the discovery of chlorine in 1774 by the Swedish chemist Karl Wilhelm Scheele and the demonstration of its bleaching properties in 1785 by the French chemist Claude Berthollet.
3. Do not confuse bleach with lye.

S: 1. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=bleach&searchmode=none (last access: 3 September 2014). 2. EncBrit – http://global.britannica.com/technology/bleach-chemistry (last access: 12 March 2014). 3. DTM p. 976; FCB.

SYN:
S:

CR: chlorine