Meanings
- dateduncountableA substitute for ivory, etc., made by treating woody fibre with sulphuric acid, mixing with various ingredients, and pressing into any required form.
Since the warm solns. of Na soaps form gels upon cooling, even in diln. of 1:400, only K soaps can be used, best made from vegetaline, a com. form of coconut oil.
1915, “Vegetaline as basis for surgical liquid soaps”, in Chemical Abstracts, volume 9, number 3, page 33282 more examples
It is called vegetaline, and it is nothing else than the oil extracted from copra (dried cocoanut), refined, and with all smell and taste neutralised by a patented process.
1901 November 22, The Agricultural Journal and Mining Record, volume 4, number 19, page 587A company in Spain desires to purchase vegetaline, fusion point to be 36 to 38 degrees centigrade. The vegetaline must be guaranteed free of mineral or animal fats, and contain only vegetable oils, not including copra oil.
1917, Commerce Reports, volume 1, number 48, page 784
Origin
Cite this entry
vegetaline. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vegetaline
“vegetaline.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vegetaline. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “vegetaline,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vegetaline.
Source: vegetaline on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.