Definitions

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

  • noun A substance added to paints and some medicines to promote drying; a drier.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Drying; causing to become dry, or to dry up.
  • noun In painting, any material added to an oil-paint to hasten the drying of the oil; a dryer. Siccative is more of a book-word, dryer being the term commonly used by painters.

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

  • adjective Drying; causing to dry.

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

  • noun drier, a catalyst used to promote drying.
  • adjective causing or promoting drying

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

  • noun a substance that promotes drying (e.g., calcium oxide absorbs water and is used to remove moisture)

Etymologies

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

[Late Latin siccātīvus, drying, from Latin siccātus, past participle of siccāre, to dry, from siccus, dry.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin siccativus.

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