Definition: caustic

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Source: WordNet (r) 1.7 

caustic
     adj 1: harsh or corrosive in tone; "an acerbic tone piercing
            otherwise flowery prose"; "a barrage of acid
            comments"; "her acrid remarks make her many enemies";
            "bitter words"; "blistering criticism"; "caustic jokes
            about political assassination, talk-show hosts and
            medical ethics"; "a sulfurous denunciation" [syn: acerb,
             acerbic, acid, acrid, bitter, blistering, sulfurous,
             sulphurous, venomous, virulent, vitriolic]
     2: of a substance, especially a strong acid; capable of
        destroying or eating away by chemical action [syn: corrosive,
         erosive, vitriolic]
     n : any chemical substance that burns or destroys living tissue

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) 

Caustic \Caus"tic\, Caustical \Caus"tic*al\, a. [L. caustucs,
   Ge. ?, fr. ? to burn. Cf. Calm, Ink.]
   1. Capable of destroying the texture of anything or eating
      away its substance by chemical action; burning; corrosive;
      searing.

   2. Severe; satirical; sharp; as, a caustic remark.

   Caustic curve (Optics), a curve to which the ray of light,
      reflected or refracted by another curve, are tangents, the
      reflecting or refracting curve and the luminous point
      being in one plane.

   Caustic lime. See under Lime.

   Caustic potash, Caustic soda (Chem.), the solid
      hydroxides potash, KOH, and soda, NaOH, or solutions
      of the same.

   Caustic silver, nitrate of silver, lunar caustic.

   Caustic surface (Optics), a surface to which rays reflected
      or refracted by another surface are tangents. Caustic
      curves and surfaces are called catacaustic when formed by
      reflection, and diacaustic when formed by refraction.

   Syn: Stinging; cutting; pungent; searching.
Caustic \Cau"stic\, n. [L. causticum (sc. medicamentum). See
   Caustic, a.]
   1. Any substance or means which, applied to animal or other
      organic tissue, burns, corrodes, or destroys it by
      chemical action; an escharotic.

   2. (Optics) A caustic curve or caustic surface.