The Collaborative International Dictionary
Essential \Es*sen"tial\ ([e^]s*s[e^]n"sjal), a. [Cf. F. essentiel. See Essence.]
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Belonging to the essence, or that which makes an object, or class of objects, what it is.
Majestic as the voice sometimes became, there was forever in it an essential character of plaintiveness.
--Hawthorne. -
Hence, really existing; existent.
Is it true, that thou art but a name, And no essential thing?
--Webster (1623). -
Important in the highest degree; indispensable to the attainment of an object; indispensably necessary.
Judgment's more essential to a general Than courage.
--Denham.How to live? -- that is the essential question for us.
--H. Spencer. Containing the essence or characteristic portion of a substance, as of a plant; highly rectified; pure; hence, unmixed; as, an essential oil. ``Mine own essential horror.''
--Ford.(Mus.) Necessary; indispensable; -- said of those tones which constitute a chord, in distinction from ornamental or passing tones.
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(Med.) Idiopathic; independent of other diseases.
Essential character (Biol.), the prominent characteristics which serve to distinguish one genus, species, etc., from another.
Essential disease, Essential fever (Med.), one that is not dependent on another.
Essential oils (Chem.), a class of volatile oils, extracted from plants, fruits, or flowers, having each its characteristic odor, and hot burning taste. They are used in essences, perfumery, etc., and include many varieties of compounds; as lemon oil is a terpene, oil of bitter almonds an aldehyde, oil of wintergreen an ethereal salt, etc.; -- called also volatile oils in distinction from the fixed or nonvolatile.
Usage examples of "oil of bitter almonds".
The Bitter Almond seed also contains a ferment Emulsin, which in presence of water acts on the soluble glucoside Amygdalin yielding glucose, prussic acid and the essential oil of Bitter Almonds, or Benzaldehyde, which is not used in medicine.
Bendix must have taken oil of bitter almonds, but he wasn't sure and threw in one or two other things as well.
In America, oil of Bitter Almonds is often substituted, owing to the variability of the above.
But there are others, I find, that have been soaked in nitro-benzol, artificial oil of bitter almonds.