Definition of "gutta-percha" []

• A rubbery substance derived from the latex of any of several tropical trees of the genera Palaquium and Payena, used as an electrical insulator, as a waterproofing compound, and in golf balls. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Not gutta-percha, you understand, nor any cheap composition; but pure Para rubber of the best quality."
• "As Sumner began to stand up, Brooks began beating Sumner on the head with his thick gutta-percha cane with a gold head."
• "It is almost enough to make me wish that the ghost of "Bully" Brooks would possess House Minority Leader John Boehner, who would then grab a gutta-percha cane, and mistaking Senator Lieberman for Charles Sumner, beat him half to death on the Senate Floor."