turpentine
pronunciation
How to pronounce turpentine in British English:
UK [ˈtɜ:pəntaɪn]
How to pronounce turpentine in American English:
US [ˈtɜrpəntaɪn]
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- Noun:
- obtained from conifers (especially pines)
- volatile liquid distilled from turpentine oleoresin; used as paint thinner and solvent and medicinally
Word Origin
- turpentine
- turpentine: [14] Turpentine is nowadays used for an oil obtained from pine trees, but it originally denoted the ‘resin of the terebinth’, a small European tree of the sumach family. The name of the terebinth is probably of non-Indo- European origin. It was borrowed into Greek as térbinthos, which made its way into Latin as terbinthus. Its resin was called terbenthina rēsīna. The adjective terbenthina came to be used as a noun, and this passed into English via Old French terbentine.
- turpentine (n.)
- early 14c., "semi-liquid resin of the terebinth tree," terbentyn, from Old French terebinte "turpentine" (13c.), from Latin terebintha resina "resin of the terebinth tree," from Greek rhetine terebinthe, from fem. of terebinthos (see terebinth). By 16c. applied generally to resins from fir trees.
Example
- 1. A further search of the wreckage turned up a bottle of turpentine , as well as a quart of lighter fluid , though turner denied owning either .
- 2. He found , for example , that egg yolk , oil of roses and turpentine worked better for cauterizing gunshot wounds than boiling oil , the common practice at the time .
- 3. I plant mainly produces easy-wetlands , pine resin , pine water-saving and turpentine .
- 4. The first farmer asked his friend , " didn 't you tell me you gave your horse a half pint of linseed oil , a tablespoon of turpentine , and three tablespoons of castor oil ? "
- 5. Walter bagehot said in his classic 19th century work lombard street : " common sense teaches that booksellers should not speculate in hops , or bankers in turpentine ; that railways should not be promoted by maiden ladies , or canals by beneficed clergymen ...... "