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. trans. 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. 22. All the spermaceti in M‘Garry’s shop won’t cure you.
1898. F. T. Bullen, Cruise ‘Cachalot,’ vi. 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, -fat, -fish, manufactory, oil, -ointment, -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.
1868–77. 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, chamber, or watch 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. (1852), x. 223, note. We saw … several spermaceti whales jumping upright quite out of the water.
