Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A waxy grayish substance from the intestines of sperm whales that was used as a fixative and a fragrance in the manufacture of perfumes. It is found floating at sea or washed ashore and was formerly extracted from whale carcasses.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A morbid secretion of the liver or intestines of the spermaceti whale, the Catodon (Physeter) macrocephalus; a solid, opaque, ash-colored, inflammable substance, lighter than water, of a consistence like that of wax, and having when heated a fragrant odor.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A substance of the consistence of wax, found floating in the Indian Ocean and other parts of the tropics, and also as a morbid secretion in the intestines of the sperm whale (
Physeter macrocephalus ), which is believed to be in all cases its true origin. In color it is white, ash-gray, yellow, or black, and often variegated like marble. The floating masses are sometimes from sixty to two hundred and twenty-five pounds in weight. It is wholly volatilized as a white vapor at 212° Fahrenheit, and is highly valued in perfumery.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun uncountable A
solid ,waxy ,flammable substance of a dullgrey orblackish color, produced in theintestines of thesperm whale . It is used inperfumes .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun waxy substance secreted by the sperm whale and found floating at sea or washed ashore; used in perfume
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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Believe it or not, ambergris is also considered gourmet food.
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Though the word ambergris is but the French compound for grey amber, yet the two substances are quite distinct.
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Though the word ambergris is but the French compound for grey amber, yet the two substances are quite distinct.
Moby Dick: or, the White Whale Herman Melville 1855
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Though the word ambergris is but the French compound for grey amber, yet the two substances are quite distinct.
Moby Dick, or, the whale Herman Melville 1855
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Though the word ambergris is but the French compound for grey amber, yet the two substances are quite distinct.
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By any name ambergris was the standard of wealth of the age.
Starfishers Cook, Glen 1982
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Also, the ones that I will probably not be able to get for a long time if at all - such as ambergris and East Indian sandalwood I have enough in stock to make Gigi for a whilte.
Boutique Exclusives Ayala Sender 2008
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Also, the ones that I will probably not be able to get for a long time if at all - such as ambergris and East Indian sandalwood I have enough in stock to make Gigi for a whilte.
Archive 2008-11-01 Ayala Sender 2008
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But as to the raw ambergris which is not swallowed, it floweth over the channel and congealeth on the banks and when the sun shineth on it, it melteth and scenteth the whole valley with a musk-like fragrance: then, when the sun ceaseth from it, it congealeth again.
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But as to the raw ambergris which is not swallowed, it floweth over the channel and congealeth on the banks, and when the sun shineth on it, it melteth and scenteth the whole valley with a musk-like fragrance.
Tehran Winter Naipaul, V.S. 1981
lampbane commented on the word ambergris
From the New York Times, December 18, 2006:
In this season of strange presents from relatives, Dorothy Ferreira got a doozy the other day from her 82-year-old sister in Waterloo, Iowa. It was ugly. It weighed four pounds. There was no receipt in the box.
Inside she found what looked like a gnarled, funky candle but could actually be a huge hunk of petrified whale vomit worth as much as $18,000.
"I called my sister and asked her, 'What the heck did you send me?' " recalled Ms. Ferreira, 67, who has lived here on the eastern tip of Long Island since 1982. "She said: 'I don't know, but I found it on the beach in Montauk 50 years ago and just kept it around. You're the one who lives by the ocean; ask someone out there what it is.' "
So Ms. Ferreira called the Town of East Hampton's department of natural resources, which dispatched an old salt from Montauk named Walter Galcik.
Mr. Galcik, 80, concluded that the mysterious gift might be ambergris, the storied substance created in the intestines of a sperm whale and spewed into the ocean. Also called "whale's pearl" or "floating gold," ambergris is a rare and often valuable ingredient in fine perfumes.
December 18, 2006
andrew.simone commented on the word ambergris
That was a great article.
December 18, 2006
seanahan commented on the word ambergris
There are a lot of "maybes" and "coulds" in this article.
December 19, 2006
chained_bear commented on the word ambergris
Courtesy of the OED:
"Praise is like ambergris; a little whiff of it, by snatches, is very agreeable; but when a man holds a whole lump of it to his nose, it is a stink and strikes you down." (c1720 POPE in Swift's Wks. (1841) I. 837)
February 3, 2007
arby commented on the word ambergris
Petrified Whale Vomit = name of my next band
May 15, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word ambergris
"'Our surgeon rather fancied it originated in the whales themselves, but he could not really make it out. The fact that it was waxy and as he said un-animal puzzled him to the end.' ...
"'I have never seen ambergris,' said Mowett. 'What is it like?'
"'A smooth rounded mass of no particular shape,' said Allen. 'Dark mottled or marbled grey when first you take it out, rather waxy and strong smelling, not very heavy: then after a while it grows lighter-coloured and much harder and takes to smelling sweet.'
"'Eggs and ambergris was Charles II's favourite dish,' observed Martin..."
--Patrick O'Brian, The Far Side of the World, 106
February 20, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word ambergris
Every time I see this word, I am reminded of the young man in Master and Commander (the film) who follows it up with "... and all the gems of Araby."
April 8, 2008
seanahan commented on the word ambergris
I'm reminded of Roseanne from that Futurama episode.
April 10, 2008
yarb commented on the word ambergris
Citation on pomatum.
July 29, 2008
missanthropist commented on the word ambergris
A sweet aromatick juice or perfume so called. There is amber of four colours, white, gray, red, and black, which comes according to the variety of places or regions where it is found. The gray is preferred before all the others, and is known to be good if, when pricking it witha pin, delivers forth a moisture like oyle.
The fume of it is good against the falling~sickness and comfortable to the brain.
Thomas Blount, Glossographia, 1656
Like all aromatic substances, ambergis is slightly antispasmodic and excitant, but is oftener employed as perfume than medicine.
Robley Dunglison, Dictionary of Medical Sciences, 1844
February 4, 2009
agatehinge commented on the word ambergris
A reason why whales are a species superior to human beings. Humans would have to be able to poop gold to be comparable.
March 25, 2010
dailyword commented on the word ambergris
This word was also used in the "Master And Commander" movie.
June 20, 2012
chained_bear commented on the word ambergris
Usage note on spices and another on perfumer. Also this:
A note about its relative value and how it was packed for long-distance trade can be found on fondaci.
October 9, 2017