toxaphene

[tok-suh-feen]

noun

Chemistry.

1. an amber, waxy, water-insoluble solid, whose principal constituent is chlorinated camphene, used as an insecticide and as a rodenticide.

toxaphene

/ ˈtɒksəˌfiːn /

noun

1. an amber waxy solid with a pleasant pine odour, consisting of chlorinated terpenes, esp chlorinated camphene: used as an insecticide

Word History and Origins

Origin of toxaphene¹

First recorded in 1945–50; tox(o)- + (c)a(m)phene

Example Sentences

Ten years after the application of toxaphene to sandy soil, enough remains to kill termites.

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Upon analysis, they were found to contain insecticide residues identified as the chlorinated hydrocarbons toxaphene, DDD, and DDE.

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While the list of toxins found in the river decades later is still shocking - including PCB, dioxin and pesticides like DDT, dieldrin and toxaphene - the river has come back to life.

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Water from a stream draining sprayed cotton fields remained lethal to fishes even after it had passed through a purifying plant, and in fifteen streams tributary to the Tennessee River in Alabama the runoff from fields treated with toxaphene, a chlorinated hydrocarbon, killed all the fish inhabiting the streams.

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Upon analysis, they were found to contain insecticide residues identified as toxaphene, DDD, and DDE.

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