Crossword clues for catechu
catechu
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Catechu \Cat"e*chu\, n. [See Cashoo.] (Chem.)
A dry, brown, astringent extract, obtained by decoction and
evaporation from the Acacia catechu, and several other
plants growing in India. It contains a large portion of
tannin or tannic acid, and is used in medicine and in the
arts. It is also known by the names terra japonica,
cutch, gambier, etc.
--Ure.
--Dunglison.
Wiktionary
n. A gummy extract of any of several species of Acacieae, produced by boiling the wood of the tree in water and evaporating the resulting liquid.
WordNet
n. extract of the heartwood of Acacia catechu used for dying and tanning and preserving fishnets and sails; formerly used medicinally [syn: black catechu]
East Indian spiny tree having twice-pinnate leaves and yellow flowers followed by flat pods; source of black catechu [syn: Jerusalem thorn, Acacia catechu]
Wikipedia
Catechu ( or ) is an extract of acacia trees used variously as a food additive, astringent, tannin, and dye. It is extracted from several species of Acacia, but especially Senegalia catechu (Acacia catechu), by boiling the wood in water and evaporating the resulting brew. It is also known as cutch, black cutch, cachou, cashoo, khoyer, terra Japonica, or Japan earth, and also katha in Hindi, kaath in Marathi, khoyer in Assamese and Bengali, and kachu in Malay (hence the Latinized Acacia catechu chosen as the Linnaean taxonomy name of the type-species Acacia plant which provides the extract).
As an astringent it has been used since ancient times in Ayurvedic medicine as well as in breath-freshening spice mixtures—for example in France and Italy it is used in some licorice pastilles. It is also an important ingredient in South Asian cooking paan mixtures, such as ready-made paan masala and gutka.
The catechu mixture is high in natural vegetable tannins (which accounts for its astringent effect), and may be used for the tanning of animal hides. Early research by Sir Humphry Davy in the early 19th century first demonstrated the use of catechu in tanning over more expensive and traditional oak extracts.
Under the name cutch, it is a brown dye used for tanning and dyeing and for preserving fishing nets and sails. Cutch will dye wool, silk, and cotton a yellowish-brown. Cutch gives gray-browns with an iron mordant and olive-browns with a copper mordant.
Black catechu has recently also been utilized by Blavod Drinks Ltd. to dye their vodka black.
White cutch, also known as gambier, gambeer, or gambir, which is extracted from Uncaria gambir has the same uses.
Usage examples of "catechu".
Although it was predominantly a Malay practice the habit of chewing betel nuts, which released the reddening areca catechu stain, was widespread throughout the East.
Continuing to read out the analyses, Rosetti said tests on gum tissue from the mouths of the second French victim and the girls in London and Vienna gave areca catechu extract as the cause of the heightened mouth redness he'd found in each.
The Pale Catechu (Gambier Catechu) is largely used in the arts, for dyeing purposes, yielding a colour known as 'Cutch Brown.