saponify
Americanverb (used with object)
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to convert (a fat) into soap by treating with an alkali.
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to decompose (any ester), forming the corresponding alcohol and acid or salt.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to undergo or cause to undergo a process in which a fat is converted into a soap by treatment with alkali
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to undergo or cause to undergo a reaction in which an ester is hydrolysed to an acid and an alcohol as a result of treatment with an alkali
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of saponify
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.
See Examples For:
But to simplify the operation, he preferred to saponify the fat by means of lime.
From The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne
It is used for cleansing the hair, for which purpose a handful is put to soak in a basin of water overnight, and the next morning it will saponify when rubbed between the hands.
From The Philippine Islands by John Foreman
B. lye to saponify a given weight of tallow and 50 per cent. of 38 degs.
From Soap-Making Manual A Practical Handbook on the Raw Materials, Their Manipulation, Analysis and Control in the Modern Soap Plant. by E. G. Thomssen
To saturate the free acid in 1 gramme of wax requires 19 to 21 milligrammes of potassic hydrate, while 73 to 76 milligrammes more are necessary to saponify the myricine ether.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 443, June 28, 1884 by Various
B., depending upon the amount of moisture desired in the finished soaps, plus a slight excess required to saponify a known weight of cocoanut oil.
From Soap-Making Manual A Practical Handbook on the Raw Materials, Their Manipulation, Analysis and Control in the Modern Soap Plant. by E. G. Thomssen
To carry out the process the previously heated oil or fat to be saponified is run into a lead lined tank.
From Soap-Making Manual A Practical Handbook on the Raw Materials, Their Manipulation, Analysis and Control in the Modern Soap Plant. by E. G. Thomssen
It is a white solid oil, fusible at a temperature of 97 degrees, and makes excellent candles, especially when saponified and distilled in the manner now adopted with palm oil, &c.
The intermediate layer is difficult to treat satisfactorily; it is generally washed twice with water, the washings being added to glycerine water, and the fatty mixture saponified and the resultant soap utilised.
From The Handbook of Soap Manufacture by W. H. Simmons
The tallow is thoroughly saponified first, and the graining is performed by the aid of caustic soda lye in preference to salt.
From The Handbook of Soap Manufacture by W. H. Simmons
Chlorophyll b is dark green, is somewhat less soluble than the other form, and when saponified by potash gives a transient brilliant red.
From The Chemistry of Plant Life by Roscoe Wilfred Thatcher
Glycerine is generally made on the large scale, on the one hand, by directly saponifying oil with the oxide of lead, or, on the other, from the "waste liquor" of soap manufacturers.
From The Art of Perfumery And Methods of Obtaining the Odors of Plants by George William Septimus Piesse
Thus, if we use caustic alkali as our saponifying agent for a fat or oil, we obtain the sodium or potassium salt of the higher fatty acids or soap and the alcohol, glycerine.
From Soap-Making Manual A Practical Handbook on the Raw Materials, Their Manipulation, Analysis and Control in the Modern Soap Plant. by E. G. Thomssen
It was then necessary to separate the glycerine from the fat by saponifying it.
From The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne
In adding the silicate it is necessary to add additional lye to that required for saponifying the fats, about 20 per cent. of 36 degs.
From Soap-Making Manual A Practical Handbook on the Raw Materials, Their Manipulation, Analysis and Control in the Modern Soap Plant. by E. G. Thomssen
In the glycerin industry the lyes obtained by saponifying the fats are first evaporated with “wet vacuum” and finally distilled with closed and live steam and a “dry vacuum.”
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 5 "Dinard" to "Dodsworth" by Various
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