adipocere
[ad-uh-poh-seer]
|
noun
a waxy substance produced by the decomposition of dead animal bodies in moist burial places or under water.
Origin of adipocere
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for adipocere
Historical Examples of adipocere
The brain was considerable in quantity, but changed to a state of adipocere resembling ointment of a dark brown hue.
Norfolk AnnalsCharles Mackie
"Then you'll be buried in Kensal Green and turn into adipocere with the others," said Torpenhow.
The Works of Rudyard Kipling: One Volume EditionRudyard Kipling
The autopsy on the exhumed body of Perrotte Mace was inconclusive, owing to the condition of adipocere.
She Stands AccusedVictor MacClure
There was not a trace of adipocere—the peculiar waxy soap that forms in bodies that decay in water or in a damp situation.
The Vanishing ManR. Austin Freeman
He is the first to observe and describe that curious product of the decomposition of flesh known to modern chemists as adipocere.
adipocere
noun
Word Origin for adipocere
C19: via French from New Latin adiposus fat (see adipose) + French cire wax
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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adipocere
[ăd′ə-pō-sîr′]
n.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
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