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.

See Examples For:

sperm oil

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

The labors of the cruise were often richly rewarded with a thousand barrels of sperm oil and two hundred and fifty barrels of whale oil.

From History of the Great American Fortunes, Vol. I Conditions in Settlement and Colonial Times by Myers Gustavus

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