neat's-foot oil

neat's-foot oil
/neets"foot'/
a pale-yellow fixed oil made by boiling the feet and shinbones of cattle, used chiefly as a dressing for leather.
[1570-80]

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      pale yellow fatty oil made by boiling the feet (excluding hooves), skin, and shinbones of cattle and used chiefly for dressing and waterproofing leather and as a lubricant. After the slaughterhouse scraps are rendered in water, the oil is skimmed off, filtered through cloth, and subjected to two pressings, the first yielding pure neat's-foot oil, used to lubricate fine machinery, the second, a lower grade, used in the textile and leather industries. The solid stearin obtained in the second pressing is used in soap manufacture. The term neat, derived from Old English, means cattle.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • neat's-foot oil — [nēts′foot΄] n. a light yellow oil obtained by boiling the feet and shinbones of cattle, used mainly as a dressing for leather: also neatsfoot oil …   English World dictionary

  • neat's-foot oil — neat s′ foot oil n. a pale yellow fixed oil made by boiling the feet and shinbones of cattle, used chiefly to dress leather • Etymology: 1570–80 …   From formal English to slang

  • neat's-foot oil — noun a pale yellow oil made from the feet and legs of cattle; used as a dressing for leather • Hypernyms: ↑animal oil * * * ˈ ̷ ̷ˌ ̷ ̷ noun Etymology: neat (I) : a pale yellow fatty oil made by boiling the feet and shinbones especially of cattle… …   Useful english dictionary

  • neat's-foot oil — /nits fʊt ˈɔɪl/ (say neets foot oyl) noun a pale yellow fixed oil made by boiling the feet and shinbones of cattle, used chiefly as a dressing for leather. {see neat2} …  

  • neat's-foot oil — noun Date: 1787 a pale yellow fatty oil made especially from the bones of cattle and used chiefly as a leather dressing …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • neat's-foot oil — noun oil obtained by boiling the feet of cattle, used to dress leather …   English new terms dictionary

  • neat’s-foot oil —  A substance used to treat leather …   Bryson’s dictionary for writers and editors

  • neat's-foot oil —    a substance used to treat leather, is a term that seldom appears these days but is almost always misspelled in one way or another when it does appear. Note the apostrophe and hyphen …   Dictionary of troublesome word

  • Neat's-foot — Neat Neat (n[=e]t), n. sing. & pl. [AS. ne[ a]t; akin to OHG. n[=o]z, Icel. naut, Sw. n[ o]t, Dan. n[ o]d, and to AS. ne[ o]tan to make use of, G. geniessen, Goth. niutan to have a share in, have joy of, Lith. nauda use, profit.] (Zo[ o]l.)… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • neat's-footoil — neat s foot oil (nētsʹfo͝ot ) n. A light yellow oil obtained from the feet and shinbones of cattle, used chiefly to dress leather. * * * …   Universalium

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