rosin

American  

[roz-in] / ˈrɒz ɪn /

noun

1. Chemistry. the yellowish to amber, translucent, hard, brittle, fragmented resin left after distilling the oil of turpentine from the crude oleoresin of the pine: used chiefly in making varnishes, varnish and paint driers, printing inks, and for rubbing on the bows of such string instruments as the violin.

2. resin.

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verb (used with object)

• rosins,
  present (3rd person singular)
• rosined,
  past participle,  past
• rosining
  present participle

1. to cover or rub with rosin.

rosin British  

/ ˈrɒzɪn /

noun

1. Also called: colophony. a translucent brittle amber substance produced in the distillation of crude turpentine oleoresin and used esp in making varnishes, printing inks, and sealing waxes and for treating the bows of stringed instruments

2. (not in technical usage) another name for resin

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verb

1. (tr) to treat or coat with rosin

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• rosiny
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• rosining
  present
• rosined
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• rosin
  simple
• rosins
  simple
• have rosined
  perfect
• has rosined
  perfect
• am rosining
  progressive
• are rosining
  progressive
• is rosining
  progressive
• have been rosining
  perfect progressive
• has been rosining
  perfect progressive

Past

• rosined
  simple
• had rosined
  perfect
• was rosining
  progressive
• were rosining
  progressive
• had been rosining
  perfect progressive

Future

• will rosin
  simple
• will have rosined
  perfect
• will be rosining
  progressive
• will have been rosining
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of rosin

1300–50; Middle English < Old French, variant of resine resin

Explanation

Rosin is a sticky, semi-solid substance made from pine tree residue. It has many uses, including making a stringed instrument's bow vibrate more clearly. When you rosin your bow, you apply rosin to it. Rosin is a type of resin, the sticky material exuded by trees and plants. To use rosin, it needs to be heated — at room temperature, it's brittle and hard, but when it's warmed rosin becomes thick and melted. In addition to perfecting the sound of a bow on strings, rosin is also an ingredient in ink, glue, certain types of paper, and soap, among many other uses. The Greek root rhetine means "resin of the pine."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

rosin rosins rosined rosining

They passed time during rain delays playing bocce ball with a rosin bag, and Herbert had to win those competitions too.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 15, 2024

Glasnow said his hand is discolored every time he throws off the mound, in a bullpen workout or a game, because he mixes rosin with a baseball that is rubbed in dirt.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2024

Aaron visited Savannah a few months later and gave Russo a signature, which was placed in a frame with the rosin bag, donut and Sports Illustrated cover showing the record homer.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 3, 2024

“It was absolutely clear that the level of stickiness in each situation could not be have been produced by the allowable use of a rosin bag,”

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 15, 2023

I'm thankful I still have some rosin left for my bow, but it definitely needs new horsehair.

From "What the Night Sings" by Vesper Stamper

Appropriate tests of those ingredients made separately on the skins of volunteers demonstrated that, apart from maceration and mechanical injury, rosins, pitch and smoke-cured wild rubber are the chief irritants.

From Time Magazine Archive

When me puts up tomatoes in the spirit-world, me rosins 'em when they bile.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 80, June, 1864 by Various

Several fairly successful paints of this type have recently appeared in the market; some of them being made of acid rosins compounded with vegetable oils.

From Paint Technology and Tests by Henry A. Gardner

See-sawing, t' fiddler now begins The best that he is able; He rosins t' stick an' screws up t' pins An' jumps up on to t' table, To play that neet.

From Yorkshire Dialect Poems (1673-1915) and traditional poems by Frederic William Moorman

Materials Used.—Various oils, fats and rosins are also used, and some acids in water are also valuable for this purpose.

From Practical Mechanics for Boys by James Slough Zerbe

The cuíca, a Brazilian friction drum with a rosined stick fastened to its head, repeatedly yawns like a distant lion, while sirens and clanking anvils evoke an urban jungle.

From New York Times ● Jul. 16, 2010

Last week the 106 members of the Boston Symphony, like thousands of symphonic musicians all over the U.S., polished their brasswork and rosined their bows for the start of a new season.

From Time Magazine Archive

They pulled tin cans along rosined strings behind fat old ladies and grinned at them.

From Time Magazine Archive

Asked critics, "Was it made by a pail covered with cowhide sliding on rosined cloth?"

From Time Magazine Archive

He saw only that broad gray, rosined back that he must reach and cling to, but without a slip this time.

From The Circus Boys Across the Continent : or, Winning New Laurels on the Tanbark by Edgar B. P. Darlington

She’ll spend too much time rosining her bow, and not enough tuning the strings.

From "Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson

I hand him the viola and start rosining the bow.

From "What the Night Sings" by Vesper Stamper

With practised skill he rapidly tightened the four strings into harmony; then, after carefully rosining the bow, rasped it with uncertain touch across them.

From The Upas Tree A Christmas Story for all the Year by Florence L. (Florence Louisa) Barclay

In the opposite corner stood Mop, rosining his bow and looking just the same as ever. 

From Life's Little Ironies by Thomas Hardy

Related Words

• paste
• wax