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.
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The quantity of potassic hydrate required to saponify one gramme or 15 grains of pure beeswax varies from 97 to 107 milligrammes.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 443, June 28, 1884 by Various
To saponify a ton of rosin there are required 200 lbs. soda ash, 1,600 lbs. water and 100 lbs. salt.
From Soap-Making Manual A Practical Handbook on the Raw Materials, Their Manipulation, Analysis and Control in the Modern Soap Plant. by Thomssen, E. G.
This oil closely resembles cocoa-nut and palm-nut oils and is stated to saponify readily and yield a soap free from odour.
From The Handbook of Soap Manufacture by Simmons, W. H.
But, to simplify the operation, he preferred to saponify the fat by lime.
From The Mysterious Island by White, Stephen W.
Saponification of the Oil.—Considerable light is thrown on the composition of a fixed oil by ascertaining how much alkali is required to saponify it.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 488, May 9, 1885 by Various
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 Thatcher, Roscoe Wilfred
When tallow is saponified there is formed, from the palmitin, stearin, and olein contained, with the cauticizing agent—in this case, lime—a soap.
From Great Sea Stories by French, Joseph Lewis
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.
B. lye, or previously saponified as a run soap, as already described under "Marine Soaps."
From Soap-Making Manual A Practical Handbook on the Raw Materials, Their Manipulation, Analysis and Control in the Modern Soap Plant. by Thomssen, E. G.
It is rarely adulterated and is very readily saponified.
From Soap-Making Manual A Practical Handbook on the Raw Materials, Their Manipulation, Analysis and Control in the Modern Soap Plant. by Thomssen, E. G.
On the other hand, if we use a mineral acid as the saponifying agent, we obtain the fatty acids themselves in addition to glycerine.
From Soap-Making Manual A Practical Handbook on the Raw Materials, Their Manipulation, Analysis and Control in the Modern Soap Plant. by Thomssen, E. G.
He states that it is made by saponifying mutton fat with lime, and then separating the fatty acids from the soap thus formed, by means of a mineral acid.
From The Art of Perfumery And Methods of Obtaining the Odors of Plants by Piesse, George William Septimus
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 Piesse, George William Septimus
The chief aim of the refiner is to remove these impurities without saponifying any of the neutral oil.
From The Handbook of Soap Manufacture by Simmons, W. H.
In saponifying a freshly stocked kettle it is apt to bunch.
From Soap-Making Manual A Practical Handbook on the Raw Materials, Their Manipulation, Analysis and Control in the Modern Soap Plant. by Thomssen, E. G.
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.
