Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A white, waxy substance consisting of various esters of fatty acids, obtained from the head of the sperm whale or another cetacean and used for making candles, ointments, and cosmetics.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A peculiar fatty substance contained in the characteristic adipose tissue of the cavity of the head of the spermwhale or cachalot, Physeter or Catodon macrocephalus, and related cetaceans. During the life of the animal the spermaceti is in a fluid state, and when the head is opened has the appearance of an oily white liquid. On exposure to the air the spermaceti concretes and precipitates from the oil, from which it may then be separated. After being purified by an elaborate process the spermaceti concretes into a white, crystallized, brittle, semi-transparent unctuous substance, nearly inodorous and insipid. It dissolves in boiling alcohol, and as the solution cools it is deposited in perfectly pure lamellated crystals. In this state it is called
cetin . Spermaceti is a mixture of various fatty acids and derivatives of the acids. It is bland and demulcent, but in medicine it is chiefly employed externally as an ingredient in ointments, cerates, and cosmetics. It has also been largely used in the manufacture of candles. - Pertaining to, derived from, or composed of spermaceti or sperm.
- Producing or yielding spermaceti, as the sperm-whales.
Wiktionary
- n. A wax obtained from the head of sperm whales. It is used to make cosmetics etc.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A white waxy substance obtained from cavities in the head of the sperm whale, and used making candles, oilments, cosmetics, etc. It consists essentially of 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 .
WordNet 3.0
- n. a white waxy substance from oil of the sperm whale
Etymologies
- Middle English, from Medieval Latin spermacētī : Late Latin sperma, semen; see sperm1 + Latin cētī, genitive of cētus, whale; see Cetus. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“This is made into what you call spermaceti candles.”
“They were hunted because of spermaceti, which is this oil-like substance, a liquid which is found in the melon, in this part of the whale's body.”
“Almost the only material used for artificially heightening the apparent proportion of stearoptene is said to be spermaceti, which is easily recognizable from its liability to settle down in a solid cake, and from its melting at 122° Fahr., whereas stearoptene fuses at 91. 4° Fahr.”
“Candles were also made from spermaceti, which is a substance taken from the head of the sperm whale.”
“_Spermaceti_: An oily substance found in the head of a species of whale called the spermaceti whale.”
“_Spermaceti_, an oily substance, found in the head of a species of whale, called the spermaceti whale.”
A Treatise on Domestic Economy For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School
“About a quarter of the whale's body is taken up by its massive snout, properly called the spermaceti organ, which is filled with a very fine grade of oil.”
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph
“The qualities of the oils thus described, it is to be added that an individual has discovered methods 1. of converting a great part of the oil of the spermaceti whale into the solid substance called spermaceti, heretofore produced from his head alone.”
“In its head is a reservoir of clear liquid called spermaceti, which sets to a dense white wax when cooled to concentrate weight in the head during a dive.”
“Hunters focused on them because of an oily wax they produce called spermaceti, which was even more valuable than whale oil in the days before petroleum drilling.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘spermaceti’.
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Mandles, Candles for Men
candles with a "manly" scent
a1 steak sauce, baseball glove, grillin' out, campfire, pigskin, bowling alley, musty locker room, chuck norris sweat, urinal deodorizer, bait shop, wet dog, hardware store and 210 more...
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Substancestry
Mysterious and theoretical substances and "stuff" of legend. More emphasis on the ancient, mystical, mythical, folklore, mathematical, and scientific. I won't be listing too many "sci-fi" or comed...
ylem, ichor, aether, ectoplasm, impossible object, quark star, eucharist, pixie dust, eitr, elixir of life, philosopher's stone, alkahest and 126 more...
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The Whole Ball of Wax
Feel free to wax poetic.
the whole ball of..., wax poetic, wax, beeswax, ambergris, cedar waxwing, sealing wax, earwax, paraffin, bougie, epicuticular wax, waxing gibbous moon and 192 more...
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Words that sound dirty but aren't.
When you want to be pedantic AND childish.
titular, masticate, condiment, titmouse, penal, formication, social intercourse, assassination, cacophony, lucubrate, rectify, banal and 131 more...
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whales,dolphins,porpoises
amazing water creatures
cetacean, balleen whale, northern right whale, bowhead whale, gray whale, fin whale, sei whale, minke whale, humpback whale, blue whale, pygmy Bryde's whale, toothed whales and 111 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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The Chandlery
Candles, candle-making; photometry, and a couple of oily fish used as light sources.
candle, chandlery, chandry, candle-carriage, candela, candle-power, egg-candling, wax, tallow, paraffin, taper, cerge and 135 more...
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Moby Dick
Words of interest from the book Moby Dick.
arrant, obstreperously, coffer-dam, farrago, rejoinder, counterpane, hamper, commend, grego, dreadnought, psalmody, expostulation and 85 more...
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Words from Moby Dick
frigate, presumptuous, genteel, succor, hearthstone, gentry, factitious, bilious, insurgent, portent, enervate, genuflect and 303 more...
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maygra
apropos, advantageous, perception, discombobulated, adumbrate, apogee, perihelion, mortmain, solitudinous, mediastinus, asumbrative, traveler and 498 more...
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Whaleworthy & Piratical Words
A list of favorite nautical words to be sprinkled liberally throughout speech for piratical or Melvillian effect.
batten down, back and fill, beamy, baulking, beckets, bilge, bold shore, boomjumper, breaker, larboard, abaft, ash breeze and 156 more...
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Flora and Fauna
poa annua, pooka, vole, bestiary, popple, turgor, starling, sharpy, copse, coreopsis, clove, corvid and 348 more...
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whaling terms
Terms defined in the glossary of Clifford W. Ashley's "Yankee Whaler".
advance, adze, after house, after oar, agent, air up, alow, ambergris, apeak, article, away, bailer and 299 more...
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Almost Dirty Words
Words that seem nasty, but aren't. Don't like it? Well... you're full of cockles.
bagasse, nosegay, jaculate, titmouse, titular, niggardly, masticate, angina, philatelist, fallacious, Uranus, rectory and 69 more...
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Reverse Dictionary Chain
I am finding use for the 'reverse dictionary" by seeing how long my reverse dictionary chain will survive.
truth, abstract, synopsis, table, billiards, cannon, splint, immobilize, wrestling, preliminary, preamble, whereas and 77 more...
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The House
A list compiled while reading The House: The History of the House of Representatives.
rowdyism, deglutition, levee, mandarine, frenchify, malarious, interregnum, pasha, mandamus, obstreperous, putrescent, apple-john and 37 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for spermaceti.
vanishedone htmltimes.com: 'The head of a Sperm Whale is one fourth the length of it's entire body, and it is filled with a waxy white substance known as spermaceti. It is used by the whales as ballasts. When the fluid was first discovered in the 1700s, it reminded whalers of sperm, hence the name Sperm Whales. To collect this liquid, the whale's head would be cut off and lashed to the side of the ship. A whaler would then bore a man-sized hole in the whale's head and climb inside, chest deep in spermaceti, and hand out buckets— often up to three tons— of the of the waxy liquid. This messy job was done because spermaceti proved to have one exceedingly valuable property. It burned brightly, and it burned evenly.' Nov 28, 2008
tankexmortis Ewww. EWWWWWWW! Aug 20, 2008