sperm oil

American

noun

Chemistry.

a yellow, thin, water-insoluble liquid obtained from the sperm whale, used chiefly as a lubricant in light machinery, as watches, clocks, and scientific apparatus.

sperm oil British

noun

an oil obtained from the head of the sperm whale, used as a lubricant

"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

Etymology

Origin of sperm oil

First recorded in 1820–30

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.

And no, I'm not suggesting that we go back to burning sperm oil.

From Salon • Dec. 11, 2021

“Squeeze! squeeze! squeeze!” he writes, in “Moby-Dick,” about pressing the lumps out of sperm oil.

From The New Yorker • Jul. 22, 2019

The tables include name of the vessel, its class, tonnage, captain, managing owner, whaling ground, date of sailing and arrival, sperm oil / whale oil / whalebone barrels and pounds.

From Salon • Jun. 12, 2012

They promptly went to work to keep the U.S. supplied with sperm oil.

From Time Magazine Archive

During the last forty years the Americans alone have taken at the rate of 10,000 barrels of sperm oil per annum, or upwards of four million barrels since 1835.

From Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon by Sterndale, Robert Armitage

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023