argol

also ar·gal (-gəl)
n.
Crude potassium bitartrate, a by-product of winemaking.

[Middle English argoile, from Anglo-Norman argoil, ultimately from Latin argilla, clay. See argil.]

(AHR-guhl)
conjunction, adverb
Therefore.

Etymology
By alteration of the Latin ergo (therefore). The word argal is usually used to indicate that the reasoning presented is ludicrous

Usage
"Mr. Barbecue-Smith was a short and corpulent man, with a very large head and no neck. In his earlier middle age he had been distressed by this absence of neck, but was comforted by reading in Balzac's 'Louis Lambert' that all the world's great men have been marked by the same peculiarity, and for a simple and obvious reason: Greatness is nothing more nor less than the harmonious functioning of the faculties of the head and heart; the shorter the neck, the more closely these two organs approach one another; argal...It was convincing." — Aldous Huxley; Crome Yellow; 1921.

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Crust of crude cream of tartar (potassium acid tartrate) which forms on the sides of wine vats, also called wine stone. It consists of 50-85% potassium hydrogen tartrate and 6-12% calcium tartrate, and will be coloured by the grapes, so white argol comes from white grapes and red argol from red grapes. Used in vinegar fermentation, in the manufacture of tartaric acid and as a mordant in dyeing.

[AHR-guhl] A natural tartar produced during fermentation that appears as little crystals in wine vats and sometimes in bottles. Argols can sometimes be found clinging to a cork when it's extracted.