A chemical compound, also called chloral hydrate, that acts as a sedative and was historically used as a sleep aid and anesthetic.
From chlor- (chlorine) + -al (aldehyde suffix), a 19th-century coinage for this chlorine-containing aldehyde compound.
Chlornal was the original 'knock-out drug'—famously used to create 'Mickey Finns' (spiked drinks) in crime stories, but it was also a legitimate and important medicine until safer alternatives made it obsolete by the mid-20th century.
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