sandarac
Americannoun
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a coniferous tree, Tetraclinis articulata (Callitrus quadrivalvis ), native to northwestern Africa, yielding a resin and a fragrant, hard, dark-colored wood much used in building.
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the brittle, usually pale-yellow, faintly aromatic resin exuding from the bark of this tree: used chiefly as incense and in making varnish.
noun
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Also called: sandarac tree. either of two coniferous trees, Tetraclinis articulata of N Africa or Callistris endlicheri of Australia, having hard fragrant dark wood: family Cupressaceae
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a brittle pale yellow transparent resin obtained from the bark of this tree and used in making varnish and incense
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Also called: citron wood. the wood of this tree, used in building
Etymology
Origin of sandarac
1350–1400; Middle English sandaracha < Latin sandaraca < Greek sandarákē realgar, beebread
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.
The translator, in a note, offers a conjecture, not without its probability, that it may have been sandarac, the "Vernice da Scrivere" of Cennino, and quotes Raffaello Borghini in his "Reposo."
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 57, No. 357, June, 1845 by Various
A good can varnish is made by dissolving 15 parts of shellac, and adding thereto 2 parts of Venice turpentine, 8 parts of sandarac, and 75 parts of spirits.
From Practical Mechanics for Boys by Zerbe, James Slough
There are two kinds, a native and an artificial, of which the former is the sandarac of the ancients, and is rather redder than the latter.
From Field's Chromatography or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists by Salter, Thomas
To imitate ground glass, use a composition of sandarac, 2 1/2 ounces; mastic, 1/2 ounce; ether, 24 ounces; and benzine, 16 ounces.
From Practical Mechanics for Boys by Zerbe, James Slough
Other gums, as mastic, dammar, sandarac, and even resin are sometimes mixed with copal to cheapen the product or to cause more rapid drying.
From Handwork in Wood by Noyes, William
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
