Chem. [f. L. cēra wax + -IN.]
1. ‘A waxy substance extracted by alcohol or ether from grated cork. (Cork contains from 1·8 to 2·5 per cent. of waxy matter.)’ Watts, Dict. Chem.
† 2. ‘A name applied by John to the portion of beeswax which is readily soluble in alcohol; according to Brodie… merely impure cerotic acid.’
1850. Daubeny, Atom. The., viii. 258. Pure bees-wax is composed of two vegetable principles, the one … most readily dissolved being called cerin, that less so, myricin.
1861. Hulme, trans. Moquin-Tandon, II. iii. 210. Wax contains three distinct principles—viz., cerine, myricine, and ceroleine. The cerine, or cerotic acid, forms the greatest part.
c. 1865. Letheby, in Circ. Sc., I. 98/1. About twenty-two per cent. of a peculiar fatty acid (cerotic) … formerly named cerine.
