luminol

Meanings

1. The compound 5-amino-2,3-dihydro-1,4-phthalazinedione, which exhibits blue chemiluminescence when mixed with an appropriate oxidizing agent.

1. To test or subject a sample or an individual to a luminol agent in order to locate traces of blood.

Etymology

First use appears in 1934 in a paper by E. Huntress, L. Stanley, and A. Parker. The verbal form first appears c. 1997, although the exact date of its first appearance is uncertain.