The Collaborative International Dictionary
Gutta-percha \Gut"ta-per`cha\, n. [Malay gutah gum + pertja the tree from which is it procured.] A concrete juice produced by various trees found in the Malayan archipelago, especially by the Isonandra Gutta, syn. Dichopsis Gutta. It becomes soft, and unpressible at the tamperature of boiling water, and, on cooling, retains its new shape. It dissolves in oils and ethers, but not in water. In many of its properties it resembles caoutchouc, and it is extensively used for many economical purposes. The Mimusops globosa of Guiana also yields this material.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1845, from Malay getah percha, literally "the gum of percha," the name of the tree; the form of the word influenced by Latin gutta "drop." As the name of the tree itself, from 1860.
Wiktionary
n. An inelastic natural latex, produced from the sap of several tropical trees of the genus (taxlink Palaquium genus noshow=1) and (taxlink Payena genus noshow=1).
WordNet
n. a whitish rubber derived from the coagulated milky latex of the gutta-percha tree
Wikipedia
Gutta-percha refers to trees of the genus Palaquium and the rigid natural latex produced from the sap of these trees, particularly from Palaquium gutta but also Isonandra gutta and Dichopsis gutta.
The word gutta-percha comes from the plant's name in Malay, getah perca, which translates as "percha sap".
Scientifically classified in 1843, it was found to be a useful natural thermoplastic. In 1851, of gutta-percha was imported into England.
During the second half of the 19th century, gutta-percha was used for myriad domestic and industrial purposes, and it became a household word. In particular, it was needed as insulation for underwater telegraph cables, which, according to author John Tully, led to unsustainable harvesting and a collapse of the supply.
Usage examples of "gutta-percha".
It exports tin in large quantities, gutta-percha collected in the interior by the aborigines, coffee, which promises to become an important production, buffalo hides, gum dammar, and gharroo.
The tusky but soft-hearted little brute kept nodding his round, sparsely covered head while he listened, exuding a smell of lavender-water, cigars, and gutta-percha.
But because each gutta tree yields only two or three pounds of gutta-percha, and long submarine cables could require hundreds, even thousands, of tons, the next fifty years would see the gutta trees extirpated from much of their native range.
It consisted of seven copper wires covered with gutta-percha and wound with tarred hemp.
Pogram at the green baize table, and received from the little man a nod and the faintest whiff of lavender and gutta-percha.
No five-minute boltings of flabby rolls, muddy coffee, questionable eggs, gutta-percha beef, and pies whose conception and execution are a dark and bloody mystery to all save the cook that created them!
They make electrical cable insulation of rubber now instead of gutta-percha, and there’.
It reminded him of gutta-percha, obtained from the milky sap of a tree native to Malaysia, which like latex hardened on exposure to the air, forming a stiff substance somewhat like this, useful in cements, insulations, and so on.