paraffin, n.
(ˈpærəfɪn)
Also -ine.
[f. L. parum too little, barely + affīnis having affinity: so named by Reichenbach 1830 in reference to its neutral quality and the small affinity it possesses for other bodies. See Journal f. Chem. u. Physik LIX. 456.]
1. A colourless (or white), tasteless, inodorous, crystalline, fatty substance, solid at ordinary temperatures (chemically a mixture of hydrocarbons of the series CnH2n+2), discovered by Reichenbach in 1830; obtained by dry distillation from wood, coal, peat, petroleum, wax, and other substances, and also occurring native in coal and other bituminous strata; subsequently used for making candles, as a waterproofing material, for electrical insulators, and for various other purposes.
| 1838 Penny Cycl. XII. 396 Paraffin was discovered about the same time [1830] by Dr. Christison and Dr. Reichenbach; the former..called it petrolin. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 942 Paraffine is a..solid bicarburet of hydrogen; it has not hitherto been applied to any use, but it would form admirable candles. 1854 Ronalds & Richardson Chem. Technol. (ed. 2) I. 374 The amount of paraffine, according to these experiments obtained from 1 ton of peat does not exceed 2½ lbs. 1868 Q. Rev. Apr. 345 It is not..from coal, but from certain shales, that the most abundant yield of paraffin is thus obtained. 1901 Daily News 10 Mar. 7/5 Until 1873 paraffin as a candle-making material had been produced almost wholly in Scotland and Germany. |
2. Short for
paraffin oil: see 4.
| 1861 Ann. Reg. 234 There has been lately introduced, for the purposes of light, an oil called ‘paraffin’. 1865 Times 9 Mar., The hon. secretary to the River Dee Salmon Fishery had preserved a bottle of pure paraffin made from the waters of the Dee. 1880 M. E. Braddon Just as I am xii, [He] set his face against paraffin and the whole family of oils. |
3. Chem. A general name, introduced by Watts 1872, for the saturated hydrocarbons of the series C
nH
2n + 2, of which the first four members, methane, ethane, propane, quartane (see
-ane) are at ordinary temperatures gaseous, those higher in the series, oily liquids, and those higher still, solids; all are remarkable for their chemical indifference, the hydrogen being combined in the highest proportion possible with the carbon.
| 1872 Watts Dict. Chem. VI. 705 This substance is a hydrocarbon or a mixture of hydrocarbons of the series CnH2n + 2;..the name paraffin may therefore be conveniently used as a generic term for the whole series. 1873 ― Fownes' Chem. 545 Many of the paraffins occur ready-formed in American petroleum. 1894 Schorlemmer's Rise & Devel. Org. Chem. 92 Henry Watts proposed to call the whole series the paraffins, and this name has been accepted. |
4. attrib. and
Comb., as
paraffin candle,
paraffin heater,
paraffin lamp,
paraffin-refiner,
paraffin stove,
paraffin tin;
paraffin oil, any one of several oils obtained by distillation of coal, petroleum, and other substances (chemically, liquid members of the paraffin series (see 3), or mixtures of these, often with admixture of other hydrocarbons), used as illuminants and lubricants; also called simply
paraffin (see 2),
kerosene, or
petroleum;
paraffin scales, manufacturers' name for a crude solid paraffin;
paraffin test (see
quots.);
paraffin wax, solid paraffin (
= sense 1), as distinct from
paraffin oil.
| 1889 Cent. Dict. s.v. Butter, *Paraffin-butter, a crude paraffin which is used for making candles. |
| 1862 Faraday Hist. Candle 18 *Paraffin candles made of paraffin obtained from the bogs of Ireland. |
| 1871 Roscoe Elem. Chem. 294 The fatty or *paraffin group of organic bodies. |
| 1939–40 Army & Navy Stores Catal. 191/3 Coleman *Paraffin Heater..Burns ordinary paraffin oil. 1975 J. McClure Snake iv. 59 She had dumped..that very serviceable old paraffin heater, that was only a little rusty, on her new rubbish tip. 1976 Sunday Mail (Glasgow) 21 Nov., It is a disgrace that people who have worked hard all their days should be forced to use paraffin heaters because they cannot afford their electricity bills. |
| 1872 Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 155/1 *Paraffin-lamps were not used in the house. 1874 J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Par. Churches 198 Paraffine lamps are now becoming much used. |
| 1851 J. Young in Mech. Mag. LIV. 334 Treating bituminous coal..to obtain therefrom an oil containing paraffine which the patentee calls *paraffine oil. 1866 Watts Dict. Chem. IV. 1 Boghead or Bathgate Naphtha, also called Photogen and Paraffin oil. a 1882 R. Christison Autobiog. (1885) I. 395 Paraffin-oil..had been found the best of all anti-friction lubricants. 1949 Paraffin oil [see kerosene]. 1950 Sci. News XV. 99 Serum from the umbilical cord can be guaranteed to increase haemoglobin production in rats only if collected under paraffin oil, that is, when protected from the oxygen of the air. |
| 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 521 Sulphur..in *paraffin ointment is useful. |
| 1880 Spons' Encycl. Manuf. I. 586 The crude solid product separated from the light and heavy oils by the mineral oil refiners, and known as ‘*paraffin scales’. |
| 1966 M. Woodhouse Tree Frog xvi. 123 There was a pressure cooker and two large *paraffin stoves. 1978 ‘L. Black’ Foursome ii. 18 The fug of the small wooden shed heated by a paraffin stove. |
| 1888 Pall Mall G. 29 Aug. 12/1 Dinner was finished by the light of *paraffine tapers. |
| 1950 Ellery Queen's Mystery Mag. Oct. 101/1 ‘What's a *paraffin test?’ asked Nicky... ‘Every gun..has a certain amount of backfire. Some of the gunpowder flashes back and is embedded in the hand of the man that fires. They coat his hand with hot paraffin and then draw it off like a glove. They then test it for gunpowder..and if it's positive, it means that the man fired the gun.’ 1974 R. B. Parker Godwulf Manuscript iii. 23 A paraffin test. When you fire a handgun cordite particles impregnate your skin. A lab man puts paraffin over it, lets it dry, peels it off, and tests it. The particles show up in the wax. |
| 1935 H. Edib Clown & his Daughter lv. 342 Some of them brought empty *paraffin-tins. 1937 K. Blixen Out of Afr. i. 12 The Swahili town..was built mostly out of old paraffin tins hammered flat. |
| 1872 Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. Apr. 307/1 *Paraffine-wax candles form a good source of light. 1894 S. R. Bottone Electr. Instr. Making (ed. 6) 18 When paraffin is mentioned in this work, paraffin wax is understood, not paraffin oil. |
Hence
ˈparaffin v. trans., to cover, impregnate, or treat with paraffin (chiefly in
ppl. a. ˈparaffined);
paraˈffinic a.,
Chem., of paraffin, as
paraffinic nitrite, a compound of nitrous acid and a paraffin, having the formula C
nH
2n + 1NO
2, also called
nitroparaffin;
ˈparaffiˌnize v. trans., to treat with paraffin;
ˈparaffinoid a., of the form of or akin to paraffin.
| 1876 Preece & Sivewright Telegraphy 133 An apparatus composed of alternate layers of tin-foil and *paraffined paper. 1891 Anthony's Photogr. Bull. IV. 13 Dry them by pouring the white albumen upon a clean board which has been paraffined. |
| 1891 Athenæum 14 Mar. 347/3 On the Physiological Action of the *Paraffinic Nitrites. |
| 1888 Amer. Nat. XXII. 859 The *paraffinized preparation is placed on a layer of cotton to cool. |
| 1887 Standard 16 Sept. 3/3 Transition from tars of the *paraffinoid to those of the benzenoid or ordinary gas tar varieties. |