Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A spiny Asian tree (Acacia catechu) having bipinnately compound leaves, spikes of yellow flowers, and dark heartwood.
- noun A raw material obtained from the heartwood of this plant, used in the preparation of tannins and brown dyes.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun It is used extensively in cotton-dyeing, under the name of cutch, for the production of tan shades. It consists chiefly of two principles, catechu-tannic acid, and catechin or catechuic acid, which are accompanied by a brown amorphous substance called
japonic acid . Japonic acid is the final oxidation-product of catechuic acid, and catechu-tannic acid is an intermediate oxidation-product. Bombay catechu, obtained from the heart-wood of the catechu palm. Areca Catechu, is considered the best quality for dyeing purposes; its principal constituent is catechu-tannic acid. Bengal catechu, obtained from the pods and twigs of the acacia, is less soluble than Bombay catechu. Cube catechu is the same asgambier catechu , which is a product of the leaves of Ouronparia Gambier and is sold in the form of yellow cubes. - noun A name common to several astringent extracts prepared from the wood, bark, and fruit of various plants.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Chem.) A dry, brown, astringent extract, obtained by decoction and evaporation from the
Acacia catechu , and several other plants growing in India. It contains a large portion of tannin or tannic acid, and is used in medicine and in the arts. It is also known by the namesterra japonica ,cutch ,gambier , etc.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A gummy
extract of any of several species ofAcacia , produced by boiling the wood of the tree in water and evaporating the resulting liquid.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun East Indian spiny tree having twice-pinnate leaves and yellow flowers followed by flat pods; source of black catechu
- noun extract of the heartwood of Acacia catechu used for dyeing and tanning and preserving fishnets and sails; formerly used medicinally
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The manufacture of catechu from the _Acacia catechu_ as practised in Canara and Behar, has been described by Mr. Kerr ( "Med.
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The term catechu, observes Dr. Pereira, is applied to various astringent extracts imported from India and the neighbouring countries.
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A few years ago the terms catechu, terra japonica, and cutch were employed synonymously; they are now, however, for the most part used in trade somewhat distinctively, though not uniformly in the same sense.
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They are no more alike than the terms _catechist_ — one who instructs by questions and answers, and the term catechu — a dry, brown astringent extract.
The Christian Foundation, Or, Scientific and Religious Journal, April, 1880 Various
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-- The drug known as catechu is principally prepared from this tree, the wood of which is boiled down, and the decoction subsequently evaporated so as to form an extract much used as an astringent.
Catalogue of Economic Plants in the Collection of the U. S. Department of Agriculture William Saunders 1861
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After the nuts are dried, they are put into a fresh quantity of water, boiled again; and this water being inspissated, like the former, yields the best or dearest kind of catechu, called Coony.
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It is generally cultivated in the same plantation with pepper, as the leaves and shoots, after undergoing the process by which their juice is extracted, to furnish a kind of catechu, are found to be an excellent manure for the pepper vines.
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The catechu which is obtained in India from the Bonga differs from that obtained from the _Acacia Catechu_ and is a tonic analogous to rhatany and cinchona.
The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines Jerome Beers Thomas 1891
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There is an article occasionally used called "catechu," which is an extract made from the wood of a mimosa tree, a native of India, half a pound of which answers the same purpose.
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A kind of catechu is obtained by boiling down the seeds to the consistence of an extract, but the chief supply of this drug is
Catalogue of Economic Plants in the Collection of the U. S. Department of Agriculture William Saunders 1861
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