paraffin

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A waxy white or colorless solid hydrocarbon mixture used to make candles, wax paper, lubricants, and sealing materials. Also called paraffin wax.
2. n. Chemistry A member of the alkane series.
3. n. Chiefly British Kerosene.
4. v. To saturate, impregnate, or coat with paraffin.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The collective name for compounds of the marsh-gas series which have the general formula C_nH_{2n + 2}—that is, two more than twice as many hydrogen atoms as carbon atoms. These bodies are characterized by a remarkable chemical indifference. They are saturated hydrocarbons, all the atoms in the molecule being joined by single bonds, and therefore they cannot enter into combination without partial destruction of the molecule.
2. n. Specifically, in com. and manufacturing, a substance obtained by the dry distillation of wood, peat, bituminous coal, wax, etc. It is a tasteless, inodorous, fatty matter, and resists the action of acids and alkalis. It is largely used in the manufacture of candles, which equal those of the finest wax, and is used also as a waterproofing material for paper and fabrics, for lining wooden and metallic vessels, as trays and tanks for acids and voltaic batteries, as an electric insulator, for coating splints and other appliances which are subjected to septic influences, for giving a polish in fine laundry-work, as a vehicle for the fulminate in matches, as a cartridge-covering, for preserving fruit and vegetables by forming a film or coating on the surface, and for many other purposes. One of the main sources, of paraffin is crude petroleum, which yields a considerable quantity during its preparation for market.
3. n. Petroleum or kerosene.
4. To coat or impregnate with paraffin; treat with paraffin.

Wiktionary

1. n. UK A petroleum based thin and colorless fuel oil, (kerosene in US English).
2. n. chemistry Any member of the alkane hydrocarbons.
3. n. paraffin wax.
4. v. To impregnate or treat with paraffin

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Chem.) A white waxy substance, resembling spermaceti, tasteless and odorless, and obtained from coal tar, wood tar, petroleum, etc., by distillation. It is used in candles, as a sealing agent (such as in canning of preserves), as a waterproofing agent, as an illuminant and as a 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 is now known to be a complex mixture of several higher hydrocarbons of the methane or marsh-gas series; hence, by extension, any substance, whether solid, liquid, or gaseous, of the same chemical series; thus gasoline, coal gas and kerosene consist largely of paraffins.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a series of non-aromatic saturated hydrocarbons with the general formula CnH(2n+2)
2. n. (British usage) kerosine
3. n. from crude petroleum; used for candles and for preservative or waterproof coatings