parmacety

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   obsolete: spermaceti, the white waxy substance obtained from the head of a sperm whale

   Early physicians praised parmacety as a remedy for inward bruises.

2. 2
   noun

   obsolete: a sperm whale

   The old sailor swore that a monstrous parmacety had smashed the boat.

An archaic alteration of spermaceti; period spellings include parmacetty and parmaceti. The second sense arose by metonymy, transferring the name of the waxy substance to the sperm whale from which it was obtained.

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images