paraffin

[ par-uh-fin ]

noun
  1. a white or colorless, tasteless, odorless, water-insoluble, solid substance not easily acted upon by reagents, consisting of a mixture of hydrocarbons chiefly of the alkane series, obtained from crude petroleum: used in candles, for forming preservative coatings and seals, for waterproofing paper, etc.

  2. Chemistry.

    • any member of the alkane series.

    • one of the higher members of the alkane series, solid at ordinary temperatures, having a boiling point above 300°C, which largely constitutes the commercial form of this substance.

  1. Also called paraffin oil .British. kerosene.

verb (used with object)
  1. to cover or impregnate with paraffin.

Origin of paraffin

1
1830–40; <German <Latin par(um) barely + aff(īnis) connected + -in2; so called from its slight affinity for other substances; see affinity

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use paraffin in a sentence

  • So I chose crude paraffin oil, the sort of oil that you can obtain in any part of Europe, almost in any part of the world.

    The Great Airship. | F. S. Brereton
  • That, then, is alcohol: a near relative of paraffin oil and also of coal gas, yet it is from neither of these that we get it.

  • I remember once a servant we had at home cleaned the inside of the coffee-pot with paraffin oil.

    The Simpkins Plot | George A. Birmingham
  • paraffin oil from Bombay can also be bought, and some of the richer men occasionally use cheap paraffin lamps made in Germany.

    At the Court of the Amr | John Alfred Gray
  • Truly, it was an uninviting place, which smelt of garlic and of the paraffin oil with which the tiled floors had been rubbed.

    Mademoiselle of Monte Carlo | William Le Queux

British Dictionary definitions for paraffin

paraffin

less commonly paraffine (ˈpærəˌfiːn)

/ (ˈpærəfɪn) /


noun
  1. Also called: paraffin oil, (esp US and Canadian) kerosene a liquid mixture consisting mainly of alkane hydrocarbons with boiling points in the range 150°–300°C, used as an aircraft fuel, in domestic heaters, and as a solvent

  2. another name for alkane

verb(tr)
  1. to treat with paraffin or paraffin wax

Origin of paraffin

1
C19: from German, from Latin parum too little + affinis adjacent; so called from its chemical inertia

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for paraffin

paraffin

[ părə-fĭn ]


  1. A waxy, white or colorless solid mixture of hydrocarbons made from petroleum and used to make candles, wax paper, lubricants, and waterproof coatings. Also called paraffin wax

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.