paraffin, paraffin oil
(noun) (British usage) kerosine
paraffin, paraffin wax
(noun) from crude petroleum; used for candles and for preservative or waterproof coatings
Source: WordNet® 3.1
paraffin (countable and uncountable, plural paraffins)
(UK) A petroleum-based thin and colorless fuel oil
Synonym: kerosene
(chemistry) Any member of the alkane hydrocarbons.
Paraffin wax.
paraffin (third-person singular simple present paraffins, present participle paraffining, simple past and past participle paraffined)
To impregnate or treat with paraffin.
To embed in paraffin wax.
Source: Wiktionary
Par"af*fin, Par"af*fine, n. Etym: [F. paraffine, fr. L. parum too little + affinis akin. So named in allusion to its chemical inactivity.] (Chem.)
Definition: A white waxy substance, resembling spermaceti, tasteless and odorless, and obtained from coal tar, wood tar, petroleum, etc., by distillation. It is used as an illuminant and 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 coal gas and kerosene consist largely of paraffins.
Note: In the present chemical usage this word is spelt paraffin, but in commerce it is commonly spelt paraffine. Native paraffin. See Ozocerite.
– Paraffin series. See Methane series, under Methane.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
5 May 2024
(noun) the social control of offenders through a system of imprisonment and rehabilitation and probation and parole
According to Guinness World Records, on 25 September 2016, the Birla Institute of Management Technology (India) in Uttar Pradesh, India, constructed the largest coffee cups pyramid consisting of 23,821 cups. They used paper takeaway coffee cups to build the pyramid.
