paraffine

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: par=af=fine

CIDE DICTIONARY

paraffine, n. [F. paraffine, fr. L. parum too little + affinis akin. So named in allusion to its chemical inactivity.].

 A white waxy substance, resembling spermaceti, tasteless and odorless, and obtained from coal tar, wood tar, petroleum, etc., by distillation. It is used in candles, as a sealing agent (such as in canning of preserves), as a waterproofing agent, as an illuminant and as a lubricant. It is very inert, not being acted upon by most of the strong chemical reagents. It was formerly regarded as a definite compound, but is now known to be a complex mixture of several higher hydrocarbons of the methane or marsh-gas series; hence, by extension, any substance, whether solid, liquid, or gaseous, of the same chemical series; thus gasoline, coal gas and kerosene consist largely of paraffins.  [1913 Webster]
" In the present chemical usage this word is spelled paraffin, but in commerce it is commonly spelled paraffine."  [1913 Webster]

Native paraffin. See Ozocerite. -- Paraffin series. See Methane series, under Methane.