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Pertaining to, or obtained from, stearin or tallow; resembling tallow. Stearic acid (Chem.), a monobasic fatty acid, obtained in the form of white crystalline scales, soluble in alcohol and ether. It melts to an oily liquid at 69°C.C18H36O2, CH3.(CH2)16.COOH; sodium stearate, with sodium palmitate, is the main componen…

carbonic acids, as formic acid, acetic, etc.; -- so called because the higher members, as stearic and palmitic acids, occur in the natural fats, and are themselves fatlike substances. -- Fatty clays. See under Clay. -- Fatty degeneration (Med.), a diseased condition, in which the oil globules, naturally present in ce…

n the natural fats and oils as the base, combined with various acids, as oleic, margaric, stearic, and palmitic. It is a triatomic alcohol, and hence is also called glycerol. See Note under Gelatin.

osed to be an individual fatty acid, but is now known to be simply an intimate mixture of stearic and palmitic acids. (b) (Chem.) A white, crystalline substance, C17H34O2 of the fatty acid series, intermediate between palmitic and stearic acids, and obtained from the wax of certain lichens, from cetyl cyanide, and othe…

y boiling, and consists of salts of sodium, potassium, etc., with the fatty acids (oleic, stearic, palmitic, etc.). See the Note below, and cf. Saponification. By extension, any compound of similar composition or properties, whether used as a cleaning agent or not.

A salt of stearic acid; as, ordinary soap consists largely of sodium or potassium stearates.

at, as in mutton tallow. Chemically, it is a compound of glyceryl with three molecules of stearic acid, and hence is technically called tristearin, or glyceryl tristearate.

The ketone of stearic acid, obtained as a white crystalline substance, (C17H35)2.CO, by the distillation of calcium stearate.

The hypothetical radical characteristic of stearic acid.

thane series, homologous with ethal, and found in small quantities as an ethereal salt of stearic acid in spermaceti.