Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

amyl acetate

American  

noun

Chemistry.
  1. banana oil.


amyl acetate British  

noun

  1. another name (no longer in technical usage) for pentyl acetate

"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

Etymology

Origin of amyl acetate

First recorded in 1865–70

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Humans are more sensitive than dogs to amyl acetate, the main odorant in bananas, for instance, presumably because identifying ripe fruit was more important to our own ancestors and irrelevant to those of dogs.

From The Guardian • May 11, 2017

Purified air blows from two of the openings; the third assails them with a mix of air and amyl acetate, an odorous chemical that smells like bananas.

From Time Magazine Archive

They had been photometered carefully by two observers by means of a Lummer-Brodhun photometer and a Hefner amyl acetate lamp previous to their use in the experiment.

From The Dancing Mouse A Study in Animal Behavior by Yerkes, Robert M.

Originally it was a mixture of nitro-glycerine and nitro-cellulose, with amyl acetate as solvent.

From Nitro-Explosives: A Practical Treatise by Sanford, P. Gerald (Percy Gerald)

One variety consists chiefly of nitro-cellulose, with amyl acetate as solvent.

From Nitro-Explosives: A Practical Treatise by Sanford, P. Gerald (Percy Gerald)

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Look it up. Learn it forever.

Remember "amyl acetate" for good with VocabTrainer. Expand your vocabulary effortlessly with personalized learning tools that adapt to your goals.

Take me to Vocabulary.com