Carron oil

Carron oil

English

Etymology

First used at the Carron ironworks in Scotland.

Noun

Carron oil (uncountable)

1. A lotion of linseed oil and limewater, applied to burns and scalds.
   • 1884, Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science and Arts, London & Edinburgh: W. & R. Chambers, October 11, 1884, p. 656,

     Carron oil—so called from the famous Carron ironworks, where it is extensively used—not only lessens the immediate pain, but covers the part with a film which effectually shuts out the air and prevents the skin getting dry.

     This Carron oil […] consists of equal parts of olive oil and lime-water. Olive oil, or salad or Lucca oil, is the oil best suited for the purpose; but if not easily obtainable, linseed oil answers the purpose very well.

   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1943, Chapter IX, p. 148,

     Then Mrs. McLash, with woman's wisdom, came rushing from her bedroom with cotton-wool and bandages and iodine and chlorodyne and carron-oil.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for Carron oil in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)