Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A thin volatile terpenoid essential oil, C10H16, obtained by steam distillation or other means from the wood or exudate of certain pine trees and used as a paint thinner, solvent, and medicinally as a liniment.
- noun The sticky mixture of resin and volatile oil from which turpentine is distilled.
- noun A brownish-yellow resinous liquid obtained from the terebinth.
- transitive verb To apply turpentine to or mix turpentine with.
- transitive verb To extract turpentine from (a tree).
from The Century Dictionary.
- To make or gather turpentine.
- To apply turpentine to; rub with turpentine.
- noun An oleoresinous substance secreted by the wood or bark of a number of trees, all coniferous except the terebinth, which yields Chian turpentine.
- noun The oil or spirit of turpentine; turps: an ordinary but less precise use.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A semifluid or fluid oleoresin, primarily the exudation of the terebinth, or turpentine, tree (
Pistacia Terebinthus ), a native of the Mediterranean region. It is also obtained from many coniferous trees, especially species of pine, larch, and fir. - noun (Chem.) a colorless oily hydrocarbon, C10H16, of a pleasant aromatic odor, obtained by the distillation of crude turpentine. It is used in making varnishes, in medicine, etc. It is the type of the terpenes and is related to cymene. Called also
terebenthene ,terpene , etc. - noun (Zoöl.) any one of several species of small tortricid moths whose larvæ eat the tender shoots of pine and fir trees, causing an exudation of pitch or resin.
- noun (Bot.) the terebinth tree, the original source of turpentine. See
Turpentine , above.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun a
volatile essential oil obtained from thewood ofpine trees bysteam distillation ; it is acomplex mixture ofmonoterpenes ; it is used as asolvent andpaint thinner
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun volatile liquid distilled from turpentine oleoresin; used as paint thinner and solvent and medicinally
- noun obtained from conifers (especially pines)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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We are dipped in turpentine, the film is wiped from our eyeballs, we really see what we are looking at (why do we rarely see?).
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One reason, she spent weeks living in turpentine camps.
Archive 2007-06-01 ____Maggie 2007
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One reason, she spent weeks living in turpentine camps.
Y'all Ready For This? ____Maggie 2007
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... on the easel, a rectangular canvas receives an inspired stroke ... in the air the smell of turpentine is thick enough to taste.
French Word-A-Day: 2007
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... on the easel, a rectangular canvas receives an inspired stroke ... in the air the smell of turpentine is thick enough to taste.
French Word-A-Day: 2007
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... on the easel, a rectangular canvas receives an inspired stroke ... in the air the smell of turpentine is thick enough to taste.
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The turpentine is the product which passes off as vapor, and the rosin is the mass left in the boiler after the distillation of the turpentine.
General Science Bertha M. Clark
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The pine lands have not, so far, been so fully tested for agricultural purposes as any other general section of the State, the reason being that the pine timber was too valuable to be cut away and farming the turpentine was the most profitable pursuit.
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-- A myrtaceous plant from Australia, called the turpentine tree, owing to its furnishing a fluid resembling that product.
Catalogue of Economic Plants in the Collection of the U. S. Department of Agriculture William Saunders 1861
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The majority of what I have termed turpentine-farmers -- meaning the small proprietors of the long-leafed pine forest land, are people but a grade superior, in character or condition, to these vagabonds.
A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States; With Remarks on Their Economy 1856
elgiad007 commented on the word turpentine
This reminds me of my favorite line from Young Guns 2.
Sheriff Kimbel, when ordered to go after Billy The Kid, had this to say in reply: "I'd rather drink turpentine and piss on a brush fire."
Wonderful imagery.
November 15, 2008
madmouth commented on the word turpentine
y know...like serpentine
May 1, 2009