Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An aromatic crystalline compound, C10H16O, obtained naturally from the wood or leaves of the camphor tree or synthesized and used as an insect repellent, in the manufacture of film, plastics, lacquers, and explosives, and in medicine chiefly in external preparations to relieve mild pain and itching.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A whitish, translucent, volatile substance closely related to the ethereal oils, with a tough crystalline texture, a peculiar penetrating odor, and an aromatic cooling taste, the product of various trees and plants of eastern Asia and the adjacent islands. See camphor-tree. Common or laurel camphor (C10H16O) is distilled from the wood of a lauraceous tree, Cinnamomum camphora, and is obtained in its crude state from Formosa and Japan and afterward refined by sublimation. It is of frequent use in medicine as a nervous stimulant and antispasmodic in typhoid and hysterical states.
- To impregnate or wash with camphor; camphorate.
Wiktionary
- n. organic chemistry A white transparent waxy crystalline isoprenoid ketone, with a strong pungent odour, used in pharmacy.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A tough, white, aromatic resin, or gum, obtained from different species of the
Laurus family, esp. from Cinnamomum camphara (the Laurus camphora of Linnæus.). Camphor, C10H16O, is volatile and fragrant, and is used in medicine as a diaphoretic, a stimulant, or sedative. - n. originally, a gum resembling ordinary camphor, obtained from a tree (Dryobalanops aromatica formerly Dryobalanops camphora) growing in Sumatra and Borneo; now applied to its main constituent, a terpene alcohol obtainable as a white solid C10H18O, called also
Borneo camphor ,Malay camphor ,Malayan camphor ,camphor of Borneo ,Sumatra camphor ,bornyl alcohol ,camphol , andborneol . The isomer from Dryobalanops is dextrorotatory; the levoratatory form is obtainable from other species of plants, and the racemic mixture may be obtained by reduction of camphor. It is used in perfumery, and for manufacture of its esters. See Borneol. - v. rare To impregnate or wash with camphor; to camphorate.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a resin obtained from the camphor tree; used in making celluloid and liniment
Etymologies
- From Old French camphore or Medieval Latin camphora, from Arabic كافور (kāfūr), from Middle Persian 𐭪𐭠𐭬𐭥𐭫 (kāpūr), ultimately from Malay kapur, possibly via Sanskrit कर्पुर (karpura). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English caumfre, from Anglo-Norman, from Medieval Latin camphora, from Arabic kāfūr, possibly from Malay kapur; akin to Sanskrit karpūraḥ. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The juice of which the camphor is made runs out from a hole bored in the upper part of the tree, is received in a vessel, where it grows thick, and becomes what we call camphor; and the juice thus drawn out the tree withers and dies.”
“When people went out they wore gauze masks over their nose and mouth, often soaked in camphor or other medicinal substances.”
A Science Odyssey: People and Discoveries: Worldwide flu pandemic strikes
“The word camphor (_kafier_), which is derived from the word _kafr_, means to "suppress or cover.”
“Like musk, which virgin camphor ne’er lets off it:”
“The sap flows from an incision made high up in the tree into a vessel hung there to receive it, and soon hardens into the substance called camphor, but the tree itself withers up and dies when it has been so treated.”
“Quails were seen on the march at some distance: it seems to be a great country for potash, and perhaps for camphor, which is evidently abundant in one species of Artemisia.”
Journals of Travels in Assam, Burma, Bhootan, Afghanistan and the Neighbouring Countries
“With a few exceptions, nearly all these powders are nitro compounds, and chiefly consist of some form of nitro-cellulose, either in the form of nitro-cotton or nitro-lignine; or else contain, in addition to the above, nitro-glycerine, with very often some such substance as camphor, which is used to reduce the sensitiveness of the explosive.”
“Mr F.H. Snyder, of New York, is the inventor of a shell powder known as the "Snyder Explosive," consisting of 94 per cent. nitro-glycerine, 6 per cent. of soluble nitro-cotton, and camphor, which is said to be safe in use.”
“The slight layer of greasy matter that habitually lines the sides of vessels from whence no effort has been made to remove it, produces effects exactly like those of the oil of camphor, that is to say, that in measure as it becomes thicker it likewise arrests the motions of the concrete volatile essence.”
“These cavities contain the camphor in clear crystalline masses, and with it an oil known as camphor oil, that is thought by some to be camphor in an immature form.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘camphor’.
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SCIE - EU nomenclature
All the scientific words found in the official EU nomenclature. For the screening I used Vocabgrabber of the Visual Thesaurus.
silicon, silica, shrimp, shelve, shallot, serine, seedling, septic, secretin, seaweed, screening, Scomber and 1171 more...
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CULI - wine-tasting adjectives
In this area of expertise nouns are frequently used as adjectives (almond, bacon, cider, diesel, fennel, fresh-cut hay, wool) or new adjectives are formed (appley, berrylike, citrusy, full-bodied, ...
acetic, acidic, aged, angular, appley, astringent, attractive, austere, berrylike, big, bitter, brawny and 511 more...
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Of Arabic Origin
Arabic loanwords in English are words acquired directly from Arabic or else indirectly by passing from Arabic into other languages and then into English. Most entered one or more of the Romance lan...
admiral, adobe, albatross, alchemy, alcohol, alcove, alembic, alfalfa, algebra, algorism, algorithm, alidade and 181 more...
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IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
veal, valve, used, yak, wax, wan, teak, vat, vas, strip, use, strap and 4515 more...
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Old Pharmacy, etc.
This is not an Aubrey/Maturin list.
This is not an Aubrey/Maturin list.
This is not an Aubrey/Maturin list.
There. I think I've convinced myself.
(Of course...asafetida, Cinchona, Peruvian bark, Jesuit's bark, mithridate, aqua, bark, lard, electuary, gentian, diatessaron, myrrh and 110 more...
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Camp
I'll bring the bug spray and the waterproof matches.
camp, camping, camper, campylobacter, Jane Campion, campy, campesino, Camp David, campfire, camptown, scamp, Hello Muddah, Hel... and 88 more...
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ɱ
with potential for the labiodental nasal
symphony, bamford, amphibians, chamfer, camphor, ham-fisted, amphetamine, bumf, triumphant, comfortable, amphipod, tomfoolery and 8 more...
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thing
apron, lard, clove, camphor, alfalfa, amber, caraway, juniper, kohl, lute, shale, glyph and 142 more...
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miscellany
extrapolate, effluvium, maelstrom, ecclesiastic, potentiate, prestidigitation, verisimilitude, innocuous, octogenarian, interlocutor, proselytize, ubiquitous and 138 more...
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the first list
an immense, grandiloquent list that loads like a thousand years sentence in stone. new words are in the other lists.
ridiculous, brummagem, predicament, sanctimonious, vapid, eschew, admonish, auspicious, capitulation, enumerate, lachrymose, tenet and 1648 more...
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Invisible Man
Words culled from Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison.
sweetback, inspirit, plasticine, atoss, hyperreceptivity, laugher-at-wounds, necrophily, monopolate, aliveness, thinker-tinker, weltschmerz, klieg and 113 more...
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Pretty Words
Words that sound pretty.
ethereal, ephemeral, iridescent, shimmer, wisp, whisper, charisma, crescent, azure, mystery, fantasy, miracle and 142 more...
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Quaintnesses
For those who wish no words were ever forgotten
opprobrium, tedium, encomium, odium, ire, enmity, beguile, wile, brazen, popinjay, squit, hoity-toity and 1161 more...
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kirstenio's Words
lascivious, transcendant, phantasmagoria, salacious, beatitude, solitude, pseudo, pretentious, inanity, sublimation, clobber, obscurity and 186 more...
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words found to be generally pleasing
alabaster, mahogany, camphor, coalesce, spire, portmanteau, gadabout, palaver, dolor, dour, dun, luminesce and 610 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (C)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
cacophony, cad, cajole, calamity, camomile, camphor, candlemas, candy apple, canopy, canticle, caparison, caravan and 304 more...
Tweets
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