gutta-percha
(ˌgʌtəˈpɜːtʃə)
Also -pertscha.
[ad. Malay getah percha, f. getah gutta2 + percha the name of the tree (sense 2), lit. ‘the gum of percha’.]
1. The inspissated juice of various trees found chiefly in the Malayan archipelago (see sense 2), now extensively used in the arts.
| 1845 Athenæum 337 The Secretary described the substance called ‘gutta percha’. 1852 Crawfurd Malay Dict. 50, Gâtah-pârcha, the inspissated juice of the pârcha tree, Isonandra gutta of Sir William Hooker; the guttah-percha of commerce. 1858 Carpenter Veg. Phys. §335 A substance, closely resembling Indian-rubber, has lately excited considerable interest, and, under the name of Gutta Pertscha, is now brought into the markets of Europe in considerable quantities. 1870 Emerson Soc. & Solit., Work & Days Wks. (Bohn) III. 65 No sooner is the electric telegraph devised, than gutta-percha, the very material it requires, is found. 1890 H. Drummond in Life xv. (1899) 388 Blue star-fish like gutta-percha. |
2. (Short for
gutta-percha tree: see 3.) One of the trees that yield this juice,
esp. Isonandra (or
Dichopsia)
Gutta (N.O.
Euphorbiaceæ).
| 1860 L. Oliphant Elgin's Mission China I. 27 Among them [Singapore trees] are the ebony, sapan, and eagle wood, but more valuable than all the gutta-percha. 1876 Harley Mat. Med. (ed. 6) 671 Gutta-Percha is a handsome ever⁓green tree, native of Borneo, Sumatra, and others of the East India Islands. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
gutta-percha-joint,
gutta-percha-jointing,
gutta-percha-merchant,
gutta-percha-sheeting,
gutta-percha-tree,
gutta-percha-tube;
gutta-percha-covered adj.;
gutta-percha-tissue, ‘gutta-percha in a very thin leaf, used as a waterproof covering to dressings to prevent evaporation’ (
Syd. Soc. Lex. 1886);
gutta-percha-wire Telegraphy, wire covered with gutta-percha.
| 1876 Preece & Sivewright Telegraphy 236 *Gutta-percha-covered wire. |
| Ibid. 241 The mean faults in *gutta percha joints..are [etc.]. |
| Ibid. 236 Patience is another virtue in *gutta percha jointing, especially in the open air. |
| 1851 in Illustr. Lond. News 5 Aug. (1854) 118 Occupations of the people..*Gutta-percha merchant. |
| 1876 Preece & Sivewright Telegraphy 239 The *gutta percha sheeting, as supplied to jointers, should be cut into strips four inches wide. |
| 1898 P. Manson Trop. Diseases i. 30 Take one of the strips of *gutta-percha tissue. |
| 1845 Stocqueler Handbk. Brit. India (1854) 367 The *gutta-percha tree..is entitled to rank as a new genus. |
| 1873 C. H. Ralfe Phys. Chem. 182 The chambers communicate with each other, and into each of which the fluid potass is passed by means of *gutta percha tubes. |
| 1876 Preece & Sivewright Telegraphy 235 Out-of-door jointing of *gutta percha wires. |