liquidambar
(lɪkwɪˈdæmbə(r))
Also liquid amber.
[a. mod.L. liquidambar (in Renou 1615), app. irreg. f. L. liquid-us liquid + med.L. ambar amber.]
1. A resinous gum which exudes from the bark of the tree Liquidambar styraciflua. Called also copalm balsam.
| 1598 Florio, Liquidambro, liquid amber. 1616 Bullokar, Liquid Amber. A sweete Rosin brought from the West Indies, comfortable to the braine. 1657 Tomlinson Renou's Disp. iv. ii. ix. 673 Liquid Amber is a certain oleous Rosine..called from its suaveolence, Liquid Amber, or Oyl of Amber [orig. Liquidambar dictum,..quasi ambarum liquidum]. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Amber, Liquid Amber, is a kind of native balsam, or resin, like turpentine; of a pleasant smell, somewhat like ambergris. |
2. Bot. A genus of trees, family Hamamelideæ, consisting of two species, L. orientalis of Asia Minor (which yields the balsam known as liquid storax), and L. styraciflua, the Sweet-gum Tree of N. America; a tree of this genus.
| 1843 Prescott Mexico (1854) 2 The rich foliage of the liquid-amber tree. 1846 W. D. Cooley Maritime & Inl. Discov. III. v. xviii. 273 The eastern slope of the Cordilleras of Mexico, covered with thick forests of liquidambar. 1881 Gard. Chron. No. 412. 652 Some young Liquidambars. 1884 E. Eggleston in Century Mag. Jan. 446/2 Carts with truck wheels sawed from the liquid-amber or sweet-gum tree. |