spermaceti
(spɜːməˈsiːtɪ, -ˈsɛtɪ)
Forms: 6–9 sperma ceti (5 cete, 7 coeti, cetæ); 5– spermaceti (5 -cetie, 7 -cete, -cæty, 8 -cety); 6 sparmaceti.
[med.L., from sperma sperm + cētī gen. sing. of cētus (ad. Gr. κῆτος) whale, through an erroneous opinion as to the nature of the substance. Hence also F. spermaceti, It. spermaceti, Sp. espermaceti, Pg. -cete. The corrupt form parmacety was formerly common.]
1. A fatty substance, which in a purified state has the form of a soft white scaly mass, found in the head (and to some extent in other parts) of the sperm-whale (Physeter macrocephalus) and some other whales and dolphins; it is used largely in various medicinal preparations, and in the manufacture of candles.
| 1471 Ripley Comp. Alch. in Ashm. (1652) 113 Use..Sperma Cete ana with redd Wyne when ye wax old. 1525 tr. Jerome of Brunswick's Surg. R iij b/2 Take sperma ceti .iij. dragma, mumie an ounce. 1581 Rich Farew. T j, The Doctor tooke Sparmaceti, and suche like thynges that bee good for a bruse. 1600 Dallam in Early Voy. Levant (Hakl. Soc.) 95 This day we saw greate store of the spane of whales, whearof they make spermacetie. 1658 A. Fox Würtz' Surg. iv. v. 334 When Sperma Cetæ is stale..it ought not to be used, making the medicine very unpleasant. 1747 Wesley Prim. Physick (1762) 53 Put a Scruple of Sperma-Ceti into the yolk of a new-laid Egg. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1824) III. 27 The first cavity or chamber of the brain, is filled with that spermaceti which is supposed of the greatest purity and highest value. 1811 A. T. Thomson Lond. Disp. (1818) 297 Spermaceti is demulcent and emollient. 1842 S. Lover Handy Andy ii. 26 All the spermaceti in M‘Garry's shop won't cure you. 1897 F. T. Bullen Cruise of ‘Cachalot’ 51 Spermaceti exists in all the oil, especially that from the dorsal hump. |
| fig. 1601 B. Jonson Poetaster ii. i. (1905) 28 Looke here, my sweet wife.., my deare mummia, my balsamum, my spermacete. a 1613 Overbury Characters, Ord. Fencer Wks. (1856) 112 For an inward bruise, lambstones and sweet-breads are his onely sperma ceti, which he eats at night next his heart fasting. |
2. attrib. and
Comb., as
spermaceti-candle,
spermaceti-fat,
spermaceti-fish,
spermaceti manufactory,
spermaceti oil,
spermaceti-ointment,
spermaceti-refiner.
| 1738 Chambers Cycl. s.v., *Spermaceti candles are of modern manufacture,..superior to the finest wax-candles. 1758 Franklin Lett. Wks. 1887 III. 8 The extinguisher is for spermaceti candles only. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Spermaceti-candles, fine transparent candles, used as wax lights. |
| 1868 Watts Dict. Chem. V. 397 Sperm-oil appears to be isomeric with *spermaceti-fat or cetin. |
| 1781 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 2) VIII. 6171 Physeter, or *Spermaceti-fish,..a genus belonging to the order of cete. |
| 1748 Armstrong Misc. (1770) I. 216 Their filthy greasy brains, that were never fit for any thing but the *sperma ceti manufactory. |
| 1765 Museum Rust. IV. 76 A taper..lamp, with four ordinary threads of cotton in the wick, consumes ·1664 oz. of *spermaceti oil in one hour. 1820 Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. II. 413 The oil..is more inflammable than spermaceti-oil. |
| 1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. ix. 103 A piece of lint smeared with *spermaceti ointment. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Spermaceti-ointment, a pharmaceutical preparation consisting of lard, spermaceti, and bees'-wax. |
| Ibid., *Spermaceti-refiner, a person who purifies spermaceti, chiefly by pressure and crystallization. |
b. spermaceti whale, the sperm whale.
| 1658 Sir T. Browne Gard. Cyrus iii, A better account..of that prominent jowle of the Sperma Ceti Whale. 1672 Phil. Trans. VII. 5021 To heal Bruises and Aches with the Oyl of the Sperma-ceti-Whale. 1763 Ann. Reg. i. 116 Two spermaceti whales have been caught on the Essex coast. 1783 Phil. Trans. LXXIII. 231 They look for ambergrise in all the spermaceti-whales they catch. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. (ed. 2) x. 223 note, We saw..several spermaceti whales jumping upright quite out of the water. |