Definitions

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

  • noun A fine-grained white, greenish, or gray mineral, Mg3Si4O10(OH)2, having a soft soapy feel and used in talcum and face powder, as a paper coating, and as a filler for paint and plastics.
  • transitive verb To apply this substance to (a photographic plate, for example).

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To treat, or rub with talc: as, in photography, to talc a plate to which it is desired to prevent the adherence of a film.
  • noun A magnesian silicate, usually consisting of broad, flat, smooth laminæ or plates, unctuous to the touch, of a shining luster, translucent, and often transparent when in very thin plates.

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

  • noun (Min.) A soft mineral of a soapy feel and a greenish, whitish, or grayish color, usually occurring in foliated masses. It is hydrous silicate of magnesia. Steatite, or soapstone, is a compact granular variety.
  • noun an impure, slaty talc, with a nearly compact texture, and greater hardness than common talc; -- called also talc slate.

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

  • noun A soft mineral of a soapy feel and a greenish, whitish, or grayish color, usually occurring in foliated masses.
  • verb To apply talc

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

  • noun a fine grained mineral having a soft soapy feel and consisting of hydrated magnesium silicate; used in a variety of products including talcum powder
  • verb apply talcum powder to (one's body)

Etymologies

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

[French, from Medieval Latin talcum and Old Spanish talco, both from Arabic ṭalq, from Persian talk.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle French talc, from Arabic طلق (ṭalq), from Persian تلک (talk).

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Examples

  • You refer to brown, blue and white asbestos, as well as talc, and refer approvingly of Christopher Booker�s assertion that white asbestos is �is to all intents and purposes indistinguishable from talc� because they are both hydrated magnesium silicates with very similar formulae.

    WHAT REALLY HAPPENED Mike Rivero 2010

  • The name talc is thought to be derived from the Arabic word talg or talk meaning mica since talc forms mica-like flakes.

    Talc 2008

  • The name talc is thought to be derived from the Arabic word talg or talk meaning mica since talc forms mica-like flakes.

    Featured Articles - Encyclopedia of Earth 2010

  • _French chalk_: A variety of the mineral called talc, unctuous to the touch, of greenish color, glossy, soft, and easily scratched, and leaving a silvery line when drawn on paper.

    American Woman's Home Harriet Beecher Stowe 1853

  • _French chalk_, a variety of the mineral called talc, unctuous to the touch, of a greenish color, glossy, soft, and easily scratched, and leaving a silvery line, when drawn on paper.

    A Treatise on Domestic Economy For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School Catharine Esther Beecher 1839

  • As a consumer who tries to choose all natural products, I was always a bit put off by Avons powders because they used to contain talc, which is a red flag in some peoples book.

    Epinions Recent Content for Home 2009

  • It allows the introduction of substances such as talc to obliterate the pleural space called pleurodesis, which prevents more fluid from accumulating and pressing on the lung.

    Patrick and the Philistine Go to SF MOMA sfmike 2009

  • It allows the introduction of substances such as talc to obliterate the pleural space called pleurodesis, which prevents more fluid from accumulating and pressing on the lung.

    Sofia Gubaidulina in The Morning sfmike 2009

  • It allows the introduction of substances such as talc to obliterate the pleural space called pleurodesis, which prevents more fluid from accumulating and pressing on the lung.

    Philip Glass' Music in Twelve Parts: 1-6 sfmike 2009

  • It allows the introduction of substances such as talc to obliterate the pleural space called pleurodesis, which prevents more fluid from accumulating and pressing on the lung.

    Patrick Dougherty and the Trees of Civic Center sfmike 2009

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