vaseline

See also: Vaseline

English

Etymology

A marketing coinage by Robert A. Chesebrough around 1870, reputedly from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] German Wasser (“water”) + (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Ancient Greek ἔλαιον (élaion, “oil”).

Noun

vaseline (countable and uncountable, plural vaselines)

1. Petroleum jelly.
   • 1930, Aldous Huxley, Brief Candles:

     Hearts of putty, hearts of vaseline...

2. Any particular kind of petroleum jelly or of any similar lubricant.
   • 1882, Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry:

     A Russian vaseline has been lately added to the many kinds of vaseline found in […]

3. A greenish-yellow coloured glass, or the colouring used in the manufacture of this glass.

Synonyms

• E905b when used as a food additive

Translations

petroleum jelly

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 凡士林 (zh) (fánshìlín)

• Finnish: vaseliini (fi)
• French: vaseline (fr) f
• Georgian: ვაზელინი (vazelini)
• German: Vaseline (de) f
• Irish: veasailín m
• Italian: petrolato (it) m, vasellina f
• Japanese: ワセリン (waserin)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Kabuverdianu: vazulina
• Marathi: वॅसेलीन n (vǎselīna)
• Navajo: akʼah łitsooígíí
• Polish: wazelina (pl) f
• Russian: вазели́н (ru) m (vazelín)
• Tagalog: baselina
• Thai: วาสลีน (wáat-sà-liin)
• Turkish: vazelin (tr)

Verb

vaseline (third-person singular simple present vaselines, present participle vaselining, simple past and past participle vaselined)

1. To lubricate with vaseline.

   Even at this late date, vaselining will preserve the best of these leathers.

Translations

to lubricate with vaseline

• Finnish: voidella vaseliinilla
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Anagrams

• leave-ins

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French

Noun

vaseline f (uncountable)

1. vaseline

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vaz.lin/

Etymology

Borrowed from English. Genericized trademark.

Further reading

• “vaseline”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.