Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To convert (an ester) by saponification.
  • intransitive verb To convert (a fat or oil) into soap.
  • intransitive verb To undergo saponification.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To convert into soap by combination with an alkali.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To convert into soap, as tallow or any fat; hence (Chem.), to subject to any similar process, as that which ethereal salts undergo in decomposition.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb to convert a fat or oil into soap; to be converted into soap
  • verb chemistry to hydrolyze an ester using an alkali

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb convert into soap by hydrolizing an ester into an acid and alcohol as a result of treating it with an alkali
  • verb become converted into soap by being hydrolized into an acid and alcohol as a result of being treated with an alkali

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French saponifier : Latin sāpō, sāpōn-, hair dye; see saponin + French -fier, -fy.]

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Examples

  • These materials include organic coconut, palm, olive and mint oils, and they collectively constitute over 95% by weight of our agricultural volume - everything except water and the alkali needed to saponify our soaps.

    David Bronner: Going Fair Trade 2010

  • I didn't and ended up with unsaponified PKO lumps throughout my bars ... and since the PKO didn't saponify, the rest of the bar was lye heavy.

    FLOAP soap Anne-Marie 2007

  • But to simplify the operation, he preferred to saponify the fat by means of lime.

    The Mysterious Island 2005

  • But to simplify the operation, he preferred to saponify the fat by means of lime.

    The Mysterious Island 2005

  • To saponify for instance 5 Kg of peanut oil, you need:

    Chapter 4 1993

  • Table I. I.dine number and saponification values, I.S Fac of principal fats used in soap making in tropical zone; weight of caustic soda to saponify 1 kg

    Chapter 4 1993

  • The first three fats are very easy to saponify even at cold, while the saponification of pork fat as such requires some cleverness.

    Chapter 7 1993

  • Twenty-five c.c. of a 10 per cent. caustic soda solution, which must be accurately standardised upon normal acid, are then pipetted into the liquid, which is heated to boiling for ten minutes to saponify the triacetin, and the excess of alkali is then titrated back with normal acid.

    Nitro-Explosives: A Practical Treatise

  • To avoid this, the quantity of alkali required to saponify the myricine is first ascertained, and then that required to saturate the free cerotic acid.

    Scientific American Supplement, No. 443, June 28, 1884 Various

  • The quantity of potassic hydrate required to saponify one gramme or 15 grains of pure beeswax varies from 97 to 107 milligrammes.

    Scientific American Supplement, No. 443, June 28, 1884 Various

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