Definition of "turpentine" []

• A thin volatile essential oil, C10H16, obtained by steam distillation or other means from the wood or exudate of certain pine trees and used as a paint thinner, solvent, and medicinally as a liniment. Also called oil of turpentine, spirit of turpentine. (noun)
• The sticky mixture of resin and volatile oil from which turpentine is distilled. (noun)
• A brownish-yellow resinous liquid obtained from the terebinth. (noun)
• To apply turpentine to or mix turpentine with. (verb-transitive)
• To extract turpentine from (a tree). (verb-transitive)

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.

• "We are dipped in turpentine, the film is wiped from our eyeballs, we really see what we are looking at (why do we rarely see?)."
• "One reason, she spent weeks living in turpentine camps."
• "... on the easel, a rectangular canvas receives an inspired stroke ... in the air the smell of turpentine is thick enough to taste."