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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



16 words match “SPERMACETI”

SPERMACETI n.
ethereal salts of palmitic acid with ethal and other hydrocarbon bases. The substance of spermaceti after the removal of certain impurities is sometimes called cetin. Spermaceti whale (Zoöl.), the sperm whale.
CACHALOT n.
an oily fluid, which, after death, concretes into a whitish crystalline substance called spermaceti. See Sperm whale.
CANDLE n.
l form of candle employed as a standard in photometric measurements; usually, a candle of spermaceti so constructed as to burn at the rate of 120 grains, or 7.8 grams, per hour. -- To curse by bell, book and candle. See under Bell.
CETENE n.
An oily hydrocarbon, C16H32, of the ethylene series, obtained from spermaceti.
CETIN n.
A white, waxy substance, forming the essential part of spermaceti.
CETYL n.
d to exist in a series of compounds homologous with the ethyl compounds, and derived from spermaceti.
CETYLIC a.
Of, pertaining to, or derived from, spermaceti. Cetylic alcohol (Chem.), a white, waxy, crystalline solid, obtained from spermaceti, and regarded as homologous with ordinary, or ethyl, alcohol; ethal; - - called also cetyl alcohol.
HECDECANE n.
A white, semisolid, spermaceti-like hydrocarbon, C16H34, of the paraffin series, found dissolved as an important ingredient of kerosene, and so called because each molecule has sixteen atoms of carbon; -- called also hexadecane.
LETHAL n.
One of the higher alcohols of the paraffine series obtained from spermaceti as a white crystalline solid. It is so called because it occurs in the ethereal salt of lauric acid.
METHAL n.
A white waxy substance, found in small quantities in spermaceti as an ethereal salt of several fatty acids, and regarded as an alcohol of the methane series.
MINERAL a.
of a mineral acid. -- Mineral tallow, a familiar name for hatchettite, from its fatty or spermaceti-like appearance. -- Mineral water. See under Water. -- Mineral wax. See Ozocerite. -- Mineral wool, a fibrous wool-like material, made by blowing a powerful jet of air or steam through melted slag. It is a poor condu…
PARAFFIN; PARAFFINE n.
A white waxy substance, resembling spermaceti, tasteless and odorless, and obtained from coal tar, wood tar, petroleum, etc., by distillation. It is used as an illuminant and lubricant. It is very inert, not being acted upon by most of the strong chemical reagents. It was formerly regarded as a definite compound, but i…
SPERM n.
Spermaceti. Sperm oil, a fatty oil found as a liquid, with spermaceti, in the head cavities of the sperm whale. -- Sperm whale. (Zoöl.) See in the Vocabulary.
SPERM WHALE n.
part of the head, above the skull, there is a large cavity, or case, filled with oil and spermaceti. This whale sometimes grows to the length of more than eighty feet. It is found in the warmer parts of all the oceans. Called also cachalot, and spermaceti whale. Pygmy sperm whale (Zoöl.), a small whale (Kogia brevicep…
STETHAL n.
mologous with ethal, and found in small quantities as an ethereal salt of stearic acid in spermaceti.
WHALE n.
n Ocean. It sometimes becomes sixty feet long. -- Whale shot, the name formerly given to spermaceti. -- Whale's tongue (Zoöl.), a balanoglossus.