Forms: α. 5–6 terebentine, -yne (see also TEREBINTHINE); β. 4–5 terb-, 5 turbentyne; γ. 5–6 terpentin, turpentyne, 6 -tyn, 7 terpentine, 6– turpentine; δ. 5 turmyntyne, 6 termenteyne. [In 14–15th c. terebentyne, terbentyne, a. OF. tere-, terbentine, ad. L. terbentina or terebinthina (rēsīna): see TEREBINTHINA, -INE. Already a. 1400, OF. had tourbentine (in R. Estienne, 1550, turbentine); so Eng. turbentyn and turpentine. The 15–16th c. variant termenteyne curiously approaches the earlier Gr. τερμινθίνη (ῤητίνη) terebinthine resin, turpentine.]
1. A term applied originally (as in Gr. and Lat.) to the semifluid resin of the terebinth tree, Pistacia Terebinthus (Chian or Cyprian turpentine); now chiefly to the various oleoresins which exude from coniferous trees, consisting of more or less viscid solutions of resin in a volatile oil.
α. [1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. clxiv. (Bodl. MS.), lf. 232/1. Therebintus … is a tre þat sweteþ rosine … and þe rosine þereof hatte Therebentina.]
c. 1425. trans. Arderne’s Treat. Fistula, 31. Putte to of terebentyne als moche as sufficeþ … moue it strongly wiþ a spature vnto þat þe terebentyne be dronken in.
1541. R. Copland, Guydon’s Formul., X j b. Fomentacyon with oyle and terebentyne medled & warmed.
1597. A. M., trans. Guillemeau’s Fr. Chirurg., 42 b/2. Made of Oyle of Egges and of Venetiane Terebentine.
β. 1322. in Wardr. Acc. 16 Edw. II., 23/20. Terbentyn 7d þe lb.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), v. 51. A gome, þat men clepen Turbentyne.
c. 1425. trans. Arderne’s Treat. Fistula, 32. Terbentyne.
1460–70. Bk. Quintessence, II. 25. Wiþ frank-encense, mirre, and rosyn, terbentyn and rewe.
γ. c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), vii. 26. A maner of gumme, þat es called Turpentyne.
1576. Baker, Jewell of Health, 128. Turpentine, which is a lycour dystilled and gotten of the Fyrre tree.
1580. Hollyband, Treas. Fr. Tong, Térébinthine, turpentyne.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XV. xii. I. 465. In Syria they use to plucke the barke from the Terebinth, yea, and they pill the boughs and roots too for Terpentine.
1673. Grew, Anat. Trunks, I. ii. § 18. Out of these Vessels all the clear Turpentine, that drops from the Tree, doth issue.
1718. Quincy, Compl. Disp., 125. Common Turpentine … is procured from the Larch-Tree.
1813. Sir H. Davy, Agric. Chem., iii. (1814), 97. When a portion of the bark is removed from a fir tree in Spring a matter exudes which is called turpentine.
1875. H. C. Wood, Therap. (1879), 131. Turpentine is remarkable for having the property of absorbing oxygen and converting it into ozone.
δ. 1448–9. in Willis & Clark, Cambridge (1886), I. 403. j lb et di. de Turmyntyne.
1502. Arnolde, Chron., 35/2. Kark of termenteyne, xij d.
b. With qualification, indicating different varieties. See quot. 1831.
1577. Frampton, Joyful News, 45. Adde therto three Ounces of Venise Turpentine.
1634. Peacham, Gentl. Exerc., I. xxvii. 98. Temper it with Spanish Turpentine.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. [Various kinds described.]
1744. Berkeley, Siris, § 20. The Strasburgh turpentine … is procured from the knots of the silver fir. Ibid. Venice turpentine, which is got by piercing the larch tree.
1831. J. Davies, Manual Mat. Med., 191. The principal kinds of turpentine are—the American Turpentine, furnished abundantly by the Pinus palustris, Lin., P. australis, Michaux, a tree growing principally in the southern states; the Common Turpentine, Terebinthina communis, obtained from the Pinus sylvestris and P. rubra, Lin.;… the Bordeaux Turpentine, Terebinthina picca, from the P. maritima, Lin., Bordeaux pine; the Strasbourg Turpentine, Terebinthina abietina, from the P. picea,… silver fir tree; the Venice Turpentine, Terebinthina laricea, from … P. larix, Lin., white larch; and … Canada or Fir Balsam, Terebinthina canadensis,… furnished by the P. balsamea, American silver fir.
c. 1865. Letheby, in Circ. Sc., I. 106/1. The oleo-resin is imported into this country under the names of common turpentine, Bordeaux t. …, Strasburg t. …, and Venice t.
c. pl. Varieties of turpentine.
1605. Timme, Quersit., III. 184. After one manner, hony,… after another, turpentines and gummes (as mastic, euphorb[i]um, styrax, and such like) … are to be distilled.
1718. Quincy, Compl. Disp., 7. Of Turpentines, Gums, and all of that Tribe.
1843. Penny Cycl., XXV. 432/1. As turpentines have a very disagreeable taste, it is customary to form them into pills or boluses.
1874. Garrod & Baxter, Mat. Med. (1880), 366. Canada balsam resembles the other turpentines in its action, but it is not often given as a medicine.
d. = Oil of turpentine: see 3. To talk turpentine (colloq.), to discuss painting.
1876. Bristowe, The. & Pract. Med. (1878), 607. Among the remedies … recommended [for scurvy] are perchloride of iron, acetate of lead, arsenic, digitalis, turpentine.
1891. Kipling, Light that Failed, vii. 118. I was told that all the world was interested in my work, and everybody at Kami’s talked turpentine.
2. † a. The fruit of the terebinth tree. Obs. b. A terebinth tree; = TEREBINTHINE B. 1. TURPENTINE TREE 1. Also, any tree that yields turpentine, as the larch.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. 115. The fruite [of Sumach] is lyke vnto small clusters of grapes of the bignes of a turpentine.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb. (1586), 72 b. The cherie refuseth not the companie of the Peach, nor the Turpentine, nor they his.
1601. Chester, Love’s Mart. (N. Shaks. Soc.), 96. The Turpentine that sweet iuyce doth deplore.
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., 90. Cypresse trees and Turpentine, with divers others.
1885. ‘Wanderer’ [Sir Henry Parkes], Beauteous Terrorist, etc., 29.
| There ’mid giant turpentines, | |
| Groups of climbing, clustering vines. |
1898. Morris, Austral Eng., Turpentine, Brush, name given to two trees—Metrosideros leptopetala,… and Rhodamnia trinervia,… both N. O. Myrtaceæ.
3. Oil of turpentine (also vulgarly known as spirit of t.), a volatile oil, contained in the wood, bark, leaves, and other parts of coniferous trees, and usually prepared by distilling crude turpentine. There are many varieties according to the source, which, though all having the same formula, C10H16, vary in their physical and, more especially, their optical properties.
1597. A. M., trans. Guillemeau’s Fr. Chirurg., 30/2. Hott oyle of Terpentin.
1660. Boyle, New Exp. Phys. Mech., xxiv. 188. Common Oyl or Spirit (for in the Shops … the same Liquor is promiscuously call’d by either name) of Turpentine.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Turpentine, What is commonly sold under the name of Oil of Turpentine, or Etherial Oil, is only a Distillation of the Rosin called Galipot, fresh from the Tree.
1791. Hamilton, trans. Berthollet’s Dyeing, I. I. I. i. 6. The oil of turpentine … has a considerable refracting power.
1859. Gullick & Timbs, Paint., 208. The rectified oil, improperly called Spirit of turpentine, is now most commonly employed. Its great use among house painters, under the cant name of ‘turps,’ is to thin and assist the drying of oil paints.
1875. H. C. Wood, Therap. (1879), 501. Oil of turpentine is never employed to increase the flow of urine.
4. attrib. and Comb., as turpentine ball, business, clyster, distiller, epithem, fomentation, liniment, odour, pill, smell, stupe, varnish; ‘pertaining to the production of turpentine or the cultivation of turpentine trees,’ as turpentine camp, district, farm, farmer, orchard, region, wood; instrumental, as turpentine-anointed, -filled adjs.; turpentine bucket: see quot.; turpentine camphor, a name sometimes given to the solid mono-hydrochlorate, sometimes to the solid hydrates of turpentine oil; turpentine gall-nut, an excrescence formed by the puncture of an insect on the branches of the terebinth-tree; turpentine gum, American THUS (sb.) (Cent. Dict. Supp., 1909); turpentine hack, a tool for hacking the bark of pine trees, to cause the turpentine to exude (Knight, Dict. Mech., 1877); turpentine moth, a leaf-roller moth of the genus Retinia, of which the larvæ bore into the twigs of conifers (Cent. Dict., 1891); turpentine oil = oil of turpentine; turpentine ointment, an ointment of which turpentine oil is a principal ingredient (ibid.); † turpentine rod, a rod of a terebinth tree; turpentine shrub, a name of the Prairie Burdock, Silphium terebinthinaceum, a tall herbaceous plant with bright yellow flowers, a native of North America cultivated in European gardens since 1765 (Cassell’s Encycl. Dict., 1888); Turpentine State (U.S.): see quot.; turpentine still, an apparatus for distilling turpentine from pine wood or spirit from turpentine (Knight, Dict. Mech., 1877); turpentine vessel, in a coniferous tree, one of the tubes formed in the interstices of tissue, into which turpentine or like secretion naturally drains during the growth of the plant; turpentine weed = turpentine shrub. See also TURPENTINE TREE.
1861. Knight, Pop. Hist. Eng., VII. xvii. 309. Robespierre … sets fire to the *turpentine-anointed images.
1844. A. Page, Suppl. to Kirby’s Suffolk Trav., 141. A *turpentine ball … which they set on fire.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Turpentine-bucket, a cup or vessel to catch crude turpentine as it exudes from the tree.
1856. Olmsted, Slave States, 338. There are very large forests of [Pinus Palustris] in North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama; and the *turpentine business is carried on … in all these States.
1901. Westm. Gaz., 16 March, 4/1. A *turpentine camp in Baldwin County, Alabama.
1857. Miller, Elem. Chem., III. 452. *Turpentine camphor … (C20H16, 4 HO).
1694. Salmon, Bate’s Dispens., III. viii. (1713), 708/2. Enema Terebinthinatum, A *Turpentine Clyster.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Turpentine and Tar Distiller, a refiner of these substances.
1901. Westm. Gaz., 4 May, 5/2. The *turpentine district along the St. John’s River has been completely wiped out.
1843. R. J. Graves, Syst. Clin. Med., x. 107, note. A warm *turpentine epithem should be placed upon this region.
1867. H. Latham, Black & White, 124. The paths which lead among the *turpentine farms.
1856. Olmsted, Slave States, 350. The majority of what I have termed *turpentine-farmers—… the small proprietors of the long-leafed pine forest land.
1888. Fenn, Dick o’ the Fens, ii. 18. They began to blaze with a brilliant light which told tales of how they were the roots of turpentine-filled pines.
1879. St. George’s Hosp. Rep., IX. 319. Great tenderness over the lower half of the abdomen. *Turpentine fomentations were applied.
1860. Mayne, Expos. Lex., *Turpentine Liniment,… a preparation … of yellow basilicon ointment diluted with turpentine.
1830. Lindley, Nat. Syst. Bot., 127. A copious flow of limpid oil of a pungent *turpentine odour.
1868. Watts, Dict. Chem., V. 920. The diversities of character exhibited by *turpentine-oils … relate chiefly to the specific gravity, boiling-point, and optical rotatory power.
1884. C. S. Sargent, Rep. Forests N. Amer., 518. Their owners oftener … employing them [negroes in N. Carolina] in *turpentine orchards than in the cotton-fields.
1622. Dekker & Massinger, Virgin Mart., III. Wks. 1873, IV. 52. One gave me *turpentine pils.
1856. Olmsted, Slave States, 325. I was now … in the *Turpentine region of North Carolina.
1632. Lithgow, Trav. (1906), 230. A *Turpentine rod brought from Jordan and given to King James.
1887. Moloney, Forestry W. Afr., 372. The plant has a strong *turpentine smell.
1859. Bartlett, Dict. Amer., *Turpentine State, the State of North Carolina, so called from the quantity of turpentine obtained from its pine forests.
1877. Roberts, Handbk. Med. (ed. 3), I. 130. Occasionally *turpentine-stupes or sinapisms are needed in order to give relief.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 791. It dries as well as any other *turpentine-varnish, and when dry it appears to be as durable as any other solution of copal.
1868. Watts, Dict. Chem., V. 925. Turpentine-varnishes, solutions of resins in oil of turpentine.
1673–4. Grew, Anat. Trunks, I. ii. § 20. The … *Turpentine-Vessels of Pine are likewise remarkably bigger … than the Milk-Vessels themselves.
1861. Bentley, Man. Bot., 55. In the Coniferæ they … have … been termed turpentine vessels.
1866. Treas. Bot., 1059/1. The plant [Silphium laciniatum] is also known as the … *Turpentine weed.
1885. F. Whymper, in Girl’s Own Paper, Jan., 171/1. The compass plant—.. known, also, as the … turpentine weed—is a vigorous perennial.
1892. Pall Mall G., 15 Nov., 2/3. The Florida convicts … were mostly put to work in the *turpentine woods.
