[L., a. Gr. ζώπισσα, f. πίσσα pitch.] † a. An old medicinal application made from wax and pitch scraped from the sides of ships. Obs. b. A patent composition used as a hardening or protecting coat for metal, etc.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XXIV. vii. II. 184. Zopissa, is that Pitch, which … is scraped from ships, and is confected of wax well soked in the salt water of the sea.
1712. trans. Pomet’s Hist. Drugs, I. 212. This Zopissa is a Composition of black Pitch, Rosin, Suet and Tar melted together.
1861. Illustr. Lond. News, 2 Feb., 108/1. To experimentalise on a portion of that stone with a substance called ‘zopissa’—phraseologically borrowed from Dioscorides … pitch-plaster.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 2653. The zopissa composition, for preserving iron and wooden ships against rust and decay, invented by N. C. Szerelmy. Ibid., 5089. Arabian zopissa waterproof and paper boards processes.
