The Collaborative International Dictionary
Naphtha \Naph"tha\ (n[a^]f"th[.a] or n[a^]p"th[.a]), n. [L. naphtha, Gr. na`fqa, fr.Ar. nafth, nifth.]
(Chem.) The complex mixture of volatile, liquid, inflammable hydrocarbons, occurring naturally, and usually called crude petroleum, mineral oil, or rock oil. Specifically: That portion of the distillate obtained in the refinement of petroleum which is intermediate between the lighter gasoline and the heavier benzine, and has a specific gravity of about 0.7, -- used as a solvent for varnishes, as a carburetant, illuminant, etc.
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(Chem.) One of several volatile inflammable liquids obtained by the distillation of certain carbonaceous materials and resembling the naphtha from petroleum; as, Boghead naphtha, from Boghead coal (obtained at Boghead, Scotland); crude naphtha, or light oil, from coal tar; wood naphtha, from wood, etc.
Note: This term was applied by the earlier chemical writers to a number of volatile, strong smelling, inflammable liquids, chiefly belonging to the ethers, as the sulphate, nitrate, or acetate of ethyl.
--Watts.Naphtha vitrioli [NL., naphtha of vitriol] (Old Chem.), common ethyl ether; -- formerly called sulphuric ether. See Ether.
Wiktionary
n. any mixture of aliphatic and alicyclic hydrocarbons derived from petroleum used for very many applications, but not as a fuel
WordNet
n. a distillate of petroleum (especially one used medicinally as a laxative or stool softener)
Wikipedia
A mineral oil is any of various colorless, odorless, light mixtures of higher alkanes from a mineral source, particularly a distillate of petroleum.
The name mineral oil by itself is imprecise, having been used for many specific oils over the past few centuries. Other names, similarly imprecise, include white oil, liquid paraffin, pariffinum liquidum (Latin), and liquid petroleum. Baby oil is a perfumed mineral oil.
Most often, mineral oil is a liquid by-product of refining crude oil to make gasoline and other petroleum products. This type of mineral oil is a transparent, colorless oil composed mainly of alkanes and cycloalkanes, related to petroleum jelly. It has a density of around 0.8 g/cm.
Mineral oil is a substance of relatively low value, and it is produced in very large quantities. Mineral oil is available in light and heavy grades, and can often be found in drug stores.
Three basic classes of mineral oils exist:
- Alkanes, based on n-alkanes
- Naphthenic oils, based on cycloalkanes
- Aromatic oils, based on aromatic hydrocarbons (distinct from essential oils)
Usage examples of "mineral oil".
The classic repellent for budworms is a squirt of mineral oil, which smothers the worms, applied with a medicine dropper or syringe inserted into the tip of each ear of corn or other budding fruits.
Turning to the trace Sachs had collected at the scene, they found minuscule amounts of the same mineral oil they'd recovered at the music school that morning and more of the latex, makeup and alginate.
The lynx coat she was wearing had shed fur at the elbows and knees, and it was matted with a greasy spume of mineral oil and ice.
Long muscles rippling, filmed with a light sheen of sweat that lay on his chest like mineral oil, his oval head down, the bull-like chest barely moving as his concentration deepened.
It seemed to be of a slimy consistency, as if it had been made of mineral oil.
Positioned at deck level about twenty meters apart were lamps that flickered and, she thought, sniffing analytically, smelled of some kind of vegetable rather than mineral oil.
On top was a film of mineral oil and beneath was an aliquot of culture fluid containing sixty or so female eggs.