Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A tropical Asian grass (Cymbopogon nardus) having bluish-green, lemon-scented leaves and an essential oil.
- n. A pale yellow to brownish aromatic oil obtained from this plant, used chiefly in perfumery and also in some insect repellents and commercial flavorings.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A fragrant grass, Andropogon Nardus, extensively cultivated in Ceylon and Singapore for an oil (citronella-oil) which is obtained from it. The oil is esteemed in India as a remedy for rheumatism, and is used in Europe and America by soap-makers and perfumers.
Wiktionary
- n. A tropical Asian grass, Cymbopogon nardus, that has lemon-scented leaves
- n. An essential oil obtained from this plant
Etymologies
- From French citronnelle. (Wiktionary)
- New Latin, from French citronnelle, lemon oil, diminutive of citron, citron; see citron. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Lemongrass aka citronella is a natural deterent for mosquitoes.”
“I've used Q-Tips soaked in citronella oil used in lamps.”
Would putting smokeless gun powder in a water proof match container make good fire starter.
“Unlike other spray collars that traditionally contain liquids such as citronella, which can interfere with the dog's necessary sense of smell, JetCare® System cold spray training and anti-bark collar for dogs contains only an inert cold spray that is completely odorless and harmless to the dog.”
“Mary Spaeth, owner of Paws in the Country dog boarding and day care near Rice, said homemade repellants might also work: Ticks can't stand essential oils such as citronella, eucalyptus and peppermint.”
“(mulberry root), "citronella," Eng., possesses the same therapeutic properties as the former.”
“It was weighed down at the edges with a citronella candle and a margarita.”
365 tomorrows » 2010 » April : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day
“Devices such as candles and torches that use citronella oil were found to not work as well, Rangan says.”
USA Today: Itching to stop mosquitoes? Zoom in on the options
“I'm not too fond of slathering DEET all over me and citronella just does not do the trick.”
“Last autumn he visited the emergency room after accidentally clipping his finger in a hedge trimmer, which seemed quite dire relative to the wheezing infant of freaked-out first-time parents, an elderly woman who gargled citronella torch fuel she mistook for mouthwash, and a teenager too stoned to notice or mind that his right foot pointed back instead of front, the result of a Jackass copycat stunt gone bad.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘citronella’.
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Visuals
A list of words which yield surprising, beautiful, amusing, or otherwise noteworthy images here on Wordnik.
photochrom, fufluns, thank you, cool l..., postcard, picture postcard, cricket, physiological ill..., Gakuryū Ishii, ametropia, One Froggy Evening, rhodopsin, Santiago Calatrava and 636 more...
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Things from my memory
nigger baby, mexican jumping bean, puddle jumper, mood ring, pet rock, cat scratch fever, taxman, hippie, vaseline, argyrol, mercurchrome, methiolade and 655 more...
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hedges's Words
wii, crepuscule, adumbrate, concatenation, sufi, qawwali, furry, riot, mellifluous, conspiracy, etymology, tea cozy and 369 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
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What David Foster Wallace circled in ...
ablative, ablaut, abulia, acephalous, ACTH, adit, adumbrate, agrapha, ailanthus, aleatory, alfresco, algolagnia and 474 more...
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What David Foster Wallace Circled in ...
http://www.slate.com/id/2250784/
ablative absolute, ablaut, abulia, acephalous, ACTH, adit, adumbrate, agrapha, aleatory, ailanthus, alfresco, algolagnia and 482 more...
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Another day, a whole nother list
rump, spot on, flank, outflank, rank, bedeck, leafhopper, apocope, academic, set-to, point of no return, cloy and 210 more...
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Little Miss Different
A list of words that sound like girls' names. Inspired by a character named Anathema Device, who appears in one of my favorite books, Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
conifer, bactine, anaesthesia, agora, careen, dilemma, helvetica, oubliette, rubella, homily, antarctica, analemma and 30 more...
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My firsts
tulsi, citronella, crimp, plowshare, crudité, tattooine, okonomiyaki, soba, sixaxis, carport, woodshed, wiimote and 68 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for citronella.
treeseed Citronella oil is one of the essential oils obtained from the leaves and stems of different species of Cymbopogon. The oil is used extensively as a source of perfumery chemicals such as citronellal, citronellol and geraniol. These chemicals find extensive use in soap, perfumery, cosmetic and flavouring industries throughout the world.
Citronella oil is also a renowned plant-based insect repellent, and has been registered for this use in the United States since 1948. The EPA considers oil of citronella as a biopesticide with a non-toxic mode of action. Research also shows that citronella oil has strong antifungal properties,and effective in calming barking dogs.
_Wikipedia Mar 12, 2008