Lyddite n. (Chem.) A high explosive consisting principally of picric acid, used as a shell explosive in the British service; so named from the proving grounds at Lydd, England.
... early months of the summer the preparations for the final advance were steadily proceeding. A second British brigade was ordered to the Soudan. A new battery of Howitzer artillery—the 37th—firing enormous shells charged with lyddite, was despatched from England. Two large 40-pounder guns were sent from Cairo. Another British Maxim battery of four guns was formed in Cairo from men of the Royal Irish Fusiliers. Three new screw gunboats of the largest size and most formidable pattern had ... — The River War • Winston S. Churchill
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