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Etymologies

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Examples

  • Gelded too: a stump of black guttapercha wagging limp between their haunches.

    Ulysses 2003

  • _ -- Taste, colour, weight; burns with a green flame; dissolves camphor, guttapercha, and caoutchouc.

    Aids to Forensic Medicine and Toxicology

  • One of the methods and mysteries was explained; the floating objects were large rubber and guttapercha bags, water-tight and unsinkable, and in these waterproof sacks was packed the contraband merchandise.

    The Dock Rats of New York Harlan Page Halsey

  • -- The covering of oiled silk, or guttapercha, so frequently placed over wet bandages when these are applied to any part of the body, is not only useless, but often positively hurtful.

    Papers on Health John Kirk

  • The wires are guttapercha-covered, placed underground, and not suitable for giving the best results.

    Scientific American Supplement No. 822, October 3, 1891 Various

  • The foliage was so thick in places as to be almost impenetrable, and amid the clinging underscrub the guttapercha plant and numerous others with names unknown to us struggled for existence.

    Adventures in Many Lands Various

  • This would have been bad for the ordinary prisoner, as it was quite impossible to tell whether the eating things were clean or not and, in any case, it smelt fairly strong of guttapercha; but as the rule for me was neither to eat nor drink, I was able to put up with it well.

    Prisons and Prisoners: Some Personal Experiences 1914

  • It was larger than the cell upstairs, and the jug, basin, etc., were all made of black guttapercha, not of tin, placed on the floor.

    Prisons and Prisoners: Some Personal Experiences 1914

  • Now I was morally certain that the words ‘guttapercha’ and ‘alligator’ did not occur in the first three Acts of Hamlet; but having carefully re-read them I invited this examining body to explain itself.

    XI. English Literature in Our Universities (II) 1916

  • There was no doubt that we must eat them or go without bread of any kind; but as we sat tugging at the gluey guttapercha-like substance, Mac's sense of humour revived.

    We of the Never-Never Jeannie Gunn 1915

Comments

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  • I first encountered this word when I read Ulysses. Well, "read" might not be the proper verb for what I did. ;-)

    February 17, 2007

  • I first encountered this word when researching the incident in the U.S. Senate in 1856 (I think), in which Sen. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was physically attacked by Rep. Preston Brooks of South Carolina with a cane of guttapercha.

    Editing to put this hyperlink in.

    February 18, 2007

  • I love that story! A caning in Congress!

    February 18, 2007

  • See also gutta percha, gutta-percha.

    August 5, 2008