camphor oil

American  

noun

1. a colorless liquid obtained from the wood of the camphor tree by distillation and separation from the solid camphor, used in varnish, soaps, and shoe polish, and in medicine chiefly as a rubefacient.

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camphor oil Scientific  

1. The oil that is obtained from the wood of the camphor tree and is used to make camphor. It is extracted from the wood by steam distillation.

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Etymology

Origin of camphor oil

First recorded in 1830–40

Example Sentences

Three days later Mr. Fujii abruptly resigned "suffering from a nervous and physical breakdown," according to his doctors, who said they were injecting him with camphor oil.

From Time Magazine Archive

As a stimulant, Dr. Rocchi gave the Pope an injection of camphor oil* and half an hour later he regained consciousness.

From Time Magazine Archive

Despite her dosing him with the cherry pectoral every few hours, and rubbing his chest with camphor oil, he had still hacked most of the night, sometimes having trouble catching his breath.

From "Stella by Starlight" by Sharon M. Draper

These cavities contain the camphor in clear crystalline masses, and with it an oil known as camphor oil, that is thought by some to be camphor in an immature form.

From Among the Trees at Elmridge by Church, Ella Rodman

From the above experiments it seems to be probable that the camphor oil is a complicated mixture, consisting of hydrocarbons of terpene series, oxy-hydrocarbons isomeric with camphor, and other oxidized hydrocarbons.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 460, October 25, 1884 by Various