MSN home
Mail
My MSN
encarta
greeting cards
encarta
®
Dictionary
Find
in
Dictionary
Thesaurus
Translations
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
parador
parados
paradox
paradox of thrift
paradoxical frog
paradoxical sleep
paradrop
paraesthesia
paraffin
paraffin oil
paraffin wax
paraformaldehyde
paragenesis
paragliding
paragoge
paragon
paragraph
Also available:
World English Dictionary
Dictionnaire Français
paraffin
par·af·fin
[
párrəfin
]
noun
(
plural
par·af·fins
)
Definition:
1.
fuel oil:
a mixture of liquid hydrocarbons obtained from petroleum and used as a domestic heating fuel and as fuel for aircraft.
See also
kerosene
2.
industry
Same as
paraffin wax
3.
chemistry
Same as
alkane
transitive verb
(
past and past participle
par·af·fined
,
present participle
par·af·fin·ing
,
3rd person present singular
par·af·fins
)
Definition:
treat with kerosene:
to treat something by saturating, impregnating, or coating it with kerosene or paraffin wax
[
Mid-19th century. < Latin
parum
"little" +
affinis
"related"; because not closely related to any other substance
]
par·af·fin·ic
[
pàrrə fínnik
]
adjective
Encarta® World English Dictionary [North American Edition] © & (P)2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Developed for Microsoft by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
Advertisement
MSN Privacy
Legal
Advertise
Feedback
Help
© 2009 Microsoft