Chem. Also -ine. [f. L. lign-um wood + -IN1.] An organic substance, forming the essential part of woody fiber.

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1822.  Imison, Sci. & Art, II. 131. When a piece of wood has been boiled in water and in alkohol … what remains insoluble is the woody fibre, or lignin.

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1859.  Fownes’ Chem., 360. Pure lignin is tasteless, insoluble in water and alcohol, and absolutely innutritious.

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1894.  D. H. Scott, Struct. Bot., I. Flowering Pl., 56. The woody character of the cell-walls of the xylem is due to the presence of a substance called lignine.

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  b.  Comb.: lignin-dynamite (see quot.).

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1883.  Fortn. Rev., May, 645. ‘Lignin-dynamite,’ as the wood sawdust saturated with nitro-glycerine … is called.

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