cerin Chem.
(ˈsɪərɪn)
[f. L. cēra wax + -in.]
1. ‘A waxy substance extracted by alcohol or ether from grated cork. (Cork contains from 1·8 to 2·5 per cent. of waxy matter.) Watts Dict. Chem.
† 2. ‘A name applied by John to the portion of beeswax which is readily soluble in alcohol; according to Brodie{ddd}merely impure cerotic acid’.
| 1850 Daubeny Atom. The. viii. 258 Pure bees-wax is composed of two vegetable principles, the one..most readily dissolved being called cerin, that less so, myricin. 1861 Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon ii. iii. 210 Wax contains three distinct principles—viz. cerine, myricine, and ceroleine. The cerine, or cerotic acid, forms the greatest part. c 1865 Letheby in Circ. Sc. I. 98/1 About twenty-two per cent. of a peculiar fatty acid (cerotic)..formerly named cerine. |