Vaseline
pronunciation
How to pronounce Vaseline in British English:
UK [ˈvæsəli:n]
How to pronounce Vaseline in American English:
US
-
- Noun:
- a trademarked brand of petroleum jelly
Word Origin
- vaseline
- vaseline: [19] The term vaseline was coined around 1872 as a trade name for a sort of petroleum jelly newly brought out by the Chesebrough Manufacturing Company. The first syllable, vas-, comes from an anglicized spelling of German wasser ‘water’; the second represents the el- of Greek élation ‘oil’; and the third is the scientific-sounding suffix -ine.=> water
- Vaseline (n.)
- 1872, trademark for an ointment made from petroleum and marketed by Chesebrough Manufacturing Co., coined from German Wasser "water" + Greek elaion "oil" + scientific-sounded ending -ine. Robert A. Chesebrough was of the opinion that petroleum was a product of the underground decomposition of water. The name is of mixed origin, being derived from Wasser, water, and elaion [Greek in the original], oil (water-oil), and indicates the belief of the discoverer that petroleum, the mother of Vaseline, is produced by the agency of heat and pressure from the carbon of certain rocks, and the hydrogen of water. ["The Monthly Review of Dental Surgery," February 1877]
Example
- 1. Another option is to mix vaseline and honey .
- 2. This includes vaseline , baby oil , mineral oil and cooking oils .
- 3. If you 're ever in a hurry and need a plush pout , just slick on some vaseline .
- 4. He started to grow sideburns and styled his hair with rose oil and vaseline .
- 5. And so the film drifts on , with ever more vaseline being applied to the lens .