General
prison napalm
What does prison napalm mean?
Boiling water with sugar (or sometimes baby oil, syrup, margarine) stirred in so it turns to a sticky, slow-running goo that clings to skin instead of running off. Thrown in the face it causes deep burns that doctors then have to scrape, not rinse. A signature weapon in US jails and increasingly in UK ones.
"He got hit with prison napalm through the hatch — third-degree burns down one side of his neck."
Origin
American prison slang, riffing on military napalm — the sugar is the thickener that makes the burn stick.
Frequently asked questions
What does prison napalm mean?
Prison napalm is boiling water mixed with sugar and thrown as a weapon, so the sugar makes it stick to the skin and burn worse.
How do you use prison napalm in a sentence?
"The sugar in prison napalm is what makes the burns so brutal."
Why is sugar added to prison napalm?
The sugar thickens the boiling water so it clings to skin instead of running off, prolonging and worsening the burn.
Study it as flashcards or scroll it in Vocabulary Flow — saved to your collection.
