Pl. –æ. [a. L. fæcula crust of wine, dim. of fæx: see FÆCES. Cf. F. fécule.
The spelling fecula is now the more common, but is not in accordance with analogy, as L. words not anglicized in termination ordinarily retain their original spelling.]
1. ‘The sediment or lees which subsides from the infusion of many vegetable substances, esp. applied to starch’ (Syd. Soc. Lex., 1884). Amylaceous fæcula: starch. Green fæcula (Fr. fécule verte): see quot. 1800.
1684. trans. Bonet’s Merc. Compit., V. 146. It is better to use the powder of the root [of Pæony] than the fæcula.
1791. Hamilton, Berthollet’s Dyeing, II. II. II. ii. 76. The fecula remaining on the filter he compared to Carolina indigo.
1800. trans. Lagrange’s Chem., II. 258. Green Fecula, is extracted from the juice of vegetables: this green colour is exceedingly fugitive…. The other kind, called Amylaceous Fecula, is in a great measure extracted from corn.
1810. Henry, Elem. Chem. (1840), II. 257. The fecula … is not dissolved, but merely suspended mechanically.
1858. Carpenter, Veg. Phys., § 691. The bulbs generally contain a large quantity of fecula, which is usually mixed, however, with a peculiar secretion, that imparts to it a strong and frequently unpleasant taste, together with powerful medicinal properties.
2. Sediment in general, dregs, sing. and pl. rare.
1815. J. Smith, The Panorama of Science and Art, II. 385. Astringent vegetables, such as gall-nuts, tea, &c. precipitate a fine black fecula from sulphate of iron, and this precipitate remains suspended a considerable time in the fluid by the addition of gum arabic, and hence its utility as a writing ink.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 411. Linseed Oil, which is used in every kind of house-paint, is obtained, by pressure, from the seed of flax, and then filtered to free it from feculæ.
