castor oil

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.

Words nearby castor oil

castner process, castoff, castor, castor and pollux, castor bean, castor oil, castor sugar, castor-oil plant, castoreum, castrate, castration

Origin of castor oil

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

Also called ricinus oil.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Examples from the Web for castor oil

Once he detected a waiter, in the end where they stopped at Tula, stealing a bottle of castor-oil from the medicine chest.
The Catholic World; Vol. IV.; October, 1866, to March, 1867.|E. Rameur
Three wicks steeped in castor-oil are put in it, and lighted.
Omens and Superstitions of Southern India|Edgar Thurston
She was then beaten with a switch made from the castor-oil plant.
Omens and Superstitions of Southern India|Edgar Thurston
We passed several fields of the castor-oil plant, and were informed, on inquiry, that they extract the oil from it.
Letters from Palestine|J. D. Paxton

He then takes two little sticks with cotton-wool in a notch at the end, and puts them to steep in castor-oil.
Castes and Tribes of Southern India|Edgar Thurston

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 ]

n.

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.