Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The trade-name of a residuum obtained after distilling off the lighter portions of petroleum.

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

  • noun (Chem.) A substance obtained from the residues of the distillation of petroleum, essentially the same as vaseline, but of somewhat stiffer consistency, and consisting of a mixture of the higher paraffines; a kind of petroleum jelly.

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

  • noun chemistry A substance obtained from the residues of the distillation of petroleum, essentially the same as vaseline, but of somewhat stiffer consistency, and consisting of a mixture of the higher paraffins.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Probably from cosmetic + Latin oleum oil.

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