[f. BENZOL + -INE = derivative.]
1. Chem. An earlier name for AMARINE, C21 H18 N2, isomeric with hydrobenzamide.
2. A commercial name for impure benzene, and often for other volatile inflammable liquid hydrocarbons, esp. for coal-tar naphtha, of which benzene is a chief constituent, and which is used for removing grease-spots, cleaning gloves, etc. Also, less correctly, for a light hydrocarbon obtained by the fractional distillation of crude petroleum, and used to burn in lamps.
1874. (On the 2nd Oct. a barge carrying gunpowder and ‘benzoline’ along the Regent’s Canal in London was blown up by the accidental ignition of the vapour of the benzoline, causing much destruction in the neighbourhood).
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, I. 338. Its power of dissolving greasy matters, has caused it [benzole] to become an article of commerce under the name of benzoline.
3. attrib. (in sense 2), as in benzoline lamp (introduced about 1864).
