Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of numerous clear to translucent yellow or brown, solid or semisolid, viscous substances of plant origin, such as copal, rosin, and amber, used principally in lacquers, varnishes, inks, adhesives, plastics, and pharmaceuticals. Resins are usually insoluble in water.
  • noun Any of numerous physically similar polymerized synthetics or chemically modified natural resins including thermoplastic materials such as polyvinyl, polystyrene, and polyethylene and thermosetting materials such as polyesters, epoxies, and silicones that are used with fillers, stabilizers, pigments, and other components to form plastics.
  • transitive verb To treat or rub with resin.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To treat, rub, or coat with resin.
  • noun A hardened secretion found in many species of plants, or a substance produced by exposure of the secretion to the air.
  • noun The precipitate formed by treating a tincture with water.
  • noun See rosin, 2.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Any one of a class of yellowish brown solid inflammable substances, of vegetable origin, which are nonconductors of electricity, have a vitreous fracture, and are soluble in ether, alcohol, and essential oils, but not in water; specif., pine resin (see rosin).
  • noun Any of various polymeric substance resembling the natural resins[1], prepared synthetically; -- they are used, especially in particulate form, in research and industry for their property of specifically absorbing or adsorbing substances of particular types; they are especially useful in separation processes such as chromatography.
  • noun (Min.) a fossil resin resembling copal, occuring in blue clay at Highgate, near London.
  • noun (Bot.) a low composite shrub (Euryops speciosissimus) of South Africa, having smooth pinnately parted leaves and abounding in resin.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A viscous hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly coniferous trees.
  • noun Any of various yellowish viscous liquids or soft solids of plant origin; used in lacquers, varnishes and many other applications; chemically they are mostly hydrocarbons, often polycyclic.
  • noun Any synthetic compound of similar properties.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any of a class of solid or semisolid viscous substances obtained either as exudations from certain plants or prepared by polymerization of simple molecules

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French resine, from Latin rēsīna, from Greek dialectal *rhēsīnā, variant of Greek rhētīnē.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French résine, from Latin resīna

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Examples

  • A gentleman in a nearby seat informs me that their resin is the source of the incense whose odor clings to this old world.

    A glass garden Beth 2007

  • A gentleman in a nearby seat informs me that their resin is the source of the incense whose odor clings to this old world.

    A glass garden Beth 2007

  • This oily resin is found in the leaves, stems, roots and berries of all of these plants.

    Summertime Skin Irritants 2010

  • This oily resin is found in the leaves, stems, roots and berries of all of these plants.

    Poison Ivy, Poison Oak and Poison Sumac 2010

  • Interwoven threads drowned in resin that recalls the texture of baskets.

    Tress Lamp by Marc Sadler 2009

  • Insects and other small animals may be trapped in resin flowing down tree bark, or as it covers their dead bodies on the forest floor.

    Prehistoric creatures discovered in huge Indian amber haul Ian Sample 2010

  • The body is a standard 60s vintage pedal car with an incredible candy tangerine job by Nick "O" Teen, the blower is sculpted and cast in resin by Lou Z, while Deron handled the design, machining, and fabrication of the steering, suspension, and wheels.

    Boing Boing 2008

  • The mold for the plastic casting resin is partially filled, the flower is placed in position on the resin, then the mold is filled the rest of the way, leaving the flower suspended part way.

    Glass Paperweight | SciFi, Fantasy & Horror Collectibles 2008

  • Mixing waste into a resin is landfill by another name.

    THE BUBBLE GUM BIN – Made From ‘Recycled’ Gum! | Inhabitat 2007

  • These sacrifices included animal offerings or sometimes humans; vegetable products, like the resin from the copal tree, and gold and jade jewellery.

    Cenote daydreams, Yucatan, Mexico 2007

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