castor oil

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noun

a colorless to pale yellow, viscid liquid, usually obtained from the castor bean by a pressing process: used as a lubricant, in the manufacture of certain soaps and creams, and in medicine chiefly as a cathartic.

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Also called ricinus oil.

Origin of castor oil

1740–50; castor (perhaps variant spelling of caster) + oil; perhaps so called because of its purgative effect

Words nearby castor oil

cast one's lot with, castor, Castor and Pollux, castor bean, castoreum, castor oil, castor-oil plant, castor sugar, cast out, cast pearls before swine, castrate

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use castor oil in a sentence

The list includes everything from common favorites like coconut oil and dead sea salt to earth wax and fermented castor oil.
Best aluminum-free deodorant: Keep odor at bay naturally with these formulations|Irena Collaku|August 23, 2021|Popular-Science
The State Department found that with high oil prices, the tar sands would be mined for oil, pipeline or no.
Fact-Checking the Sunday Shows: Jan. 4|PunditFact.com|January 5, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Pulling oil from the tar sands is costly, even more so when you tack transportation costs on top.
Fact-Checking the Sunday Shows: Jan. 4|PunditFact.com|January 5, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The focus here was on how fast oil would come out of the Canadian fields.
Fact-Checking the Sunday Shows: Jan. 4|PunditFact.com|January 5, 2015|DAILY BEAST

Total oil production figures include crude oil, natural gas liquids, and other liquid energy products.
Fact-Checking the Sunday Shows: Jan. 4|PunditFact.com|January 5, 2015|DAILY BEAST
On top of oil, the United States produces significantly more natural gas than Saudi Arabia.
Fact-Checking the Sunday Shows: Jan. 4|PunditFact.com|January 5, 2015|DAILY BEAST
In pursuing his alchemical researches, he discovered Prussian blue, and the animal oil which bears his name.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell
Movement to know that she was attired in appropriate costume—short frock, biped continuations and a mannish oil-skin hat.
Glances at Europe|Horace Greeley
A very small amount may be present after ingestion of large quantities of cod-liver oil or other fats.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
Go carefully over the film with an oil-immersion lens, using a mechanical stage if available.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
The unindustrious pupil imagines that “p” represents 8, and not “f” or “v,” and translates 1845 into “To pour oil” .
Assimilative Memory|Marcus Dwight Larrowe (AKA Prof. A. Loisette)

British Dictionary definitions for castor oil

castor oil

noun

a colourless or yellow glutinous oil obtained from the seeds of the castor-oil plant and used as a fine lubricant and as a cathartic

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

Medical definitions for castor oil

castor oil

[ kăs′tər ]

A colorless or pale yellowish oil extracted from the seeds of the castor-oil plant, used pharmaceutically as a laxative and skin softener and industrially as a lubricant.