more searches
12 wordies list

isinglass

 (n): any of various minerals consisting of hydrous silicates of aluminum or potassium etc. that crystallize in forms that allow perfect cleavage into very thin leaves; used as dielectrics because of their resistance to electricity
( more... )
Leave a comment, citation, or usage note
about 1 month ago yarb said:

...from the unmarred dead body of the whale, you may scrape off with your hand an infinitely thin, transparent substance, somewhat resembling the thinnest shreds of isinglass...

- Melville, Moby-Dick, ch. 68

10 months ago trivet said:

Good for making curtains that will roll right down...

10 months ago sionnach said:

A transparent, almost pure gelatin prepared from the air bladder of the sturgeon and certain other fishes and used as an adhesive and a clarifying agent.

1528, said to be perversion of Du. huysenblas, lit. "sturgeon bladder," from huysen "sturgeon" + blas "bladder;" so called because the substance was obtained from it.

Register or login to leave a comment.
first listed by:
spamdad (292 words)
appears in these lists:
spamdad's Words, by spamdad
lovely & attractive, by redmeg8
Worse Than They Sound, by reesetee
Sounds Fine, by jennie
slumry's Words, by slumry
sionnach's Words, by sionnach
researchgirl's Words, by researchgirl
Clarissa, Or, The History of a Young Lady, by Minerva
persnickety parlance, by julia
isinglass's list of favourite words, by isinglass
Moby-Dick, by yarb
wörterwunderkammer, by rolig