Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Ambergris |
AmbergrisNoun1. Waxy substance secreted by the sperm whale and found floating at sea or washed ashore; used in perfume. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "ambergris" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Food & Agriculture | Substance secreted by the whale. Source: European Union. (references) |
Health | A gray substance found in the intestinal tracts of the sperm whale. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Ambergris occurs as a biliary concretion in the intestines of the Sperm Whale, and is found floating upon the sea, on the sea-coast, or in the sand near the sea-coast. Because lumps of ambergris with embedded beaks of giant squid have been found, scientists have theorized that the whale's intestine produces the substance as a means of facilitating the passage of hard, sharp objects that the whale might have inadvertently eaten. It is met with in the Atlantic Ocean; on the coasts of Brazil and Madagascar; also on the coast of Africa, of the East Indies, China, Japan and the Molucca islands; but most of the ambergris which is brought to England comes from the Bahama Islands, Providence, etc. It is also sometimes found in the abdomen of whales, always in lumps of various shapes and sizes, weighing from 1/2 oz. to 100 or more pounds.
Ambergris is of a deep grey colour, soft consistence and a disagreeable smell. On exposure to the air it gradually hardens, becomes pale and develops its peculiar sweet, earthy odour. In that condition its specific gravity ranges from 0.780 to 0.926. It melts at about 62 °C to a fatty, yellow resinous-like liquid; and at 100 °C it is volatilized into a white vapour. It is soluble in ether, and in volatile and fixed oils; it is only feebly acted on by acids. By digesting in hot alcohol, a substance termed ambrein, closely resembling cholesterin, is obtained, which separates in brilliant white crystals as the solution cools.
The use of ambergris in Europe is now entirely confined to perfumery, though it formerly occupied no inconsiderable place in medicine and still is a common homeopathic remedy. In minute quantities its alcoholic solution is much used for giving a "floral" fragrance to bouquets, washes and other preparations of the perfumer. It occupies a very important place in the perfumery of the East, and there it is also used in pharmacy and as a flavouring material in cookery.
The high price ambergris commands makes it peculiarly liable to adulteration, but its genuineness is easily tested by its solubility in hot alcohol, its fragrant odour, and its uniform fatty consistence on being penetrated by a hot wire.
Initial text from 1911 encyclopedia -- Please update as needed
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Ambergris."
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Resin | Noun: resin, rosin; gum; lac, sealing wax; amber, ambergris; bitumen, pitch, tar; asphalt, asphaltum; camphor; varnish, copal, mastic, magilp, lacquer, japan. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Ambergris |
| English words defined with "ambergris": Ambergrease, Ambrein, Angel water ♦ black whale ♦ cachalot ♦ Grisamber ♦ Lavender water ♦ Physeter catodon ♦ sperm whale. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "ambergris": Grisamber. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | A Piece of Ambergris (1912) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
References | |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Ambergris" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Ambergris" is used about 3 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 3 | 202,518 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
ambergris caye | 147 | ambergris belize | 3 |
ambergris | 64 | ambergris banana beach caye resort | 3 |
ambergris caye belize | 40 | ambergris caye resort | 3 |
ambergris cay | 13 | ambergris caye san pedro | 3 |
ambergris cay hotel | 12 | ambergris caye.com | 3 |
ambergris caye hotel | 7 | ambergris key | 3 |
oil ambergris | 5 | accommodation ambergris caye | 2 |
ambergris solution | 5 | ambergris cay belize | 2 |
ambergris caye real estate | 5 | ambergris perfume | 2 |
ambergris caye house victoria | 4 | ambergris caye fishing | 2 |
ambergris caye lodging | 4 | ambergris whale | 2 |
ambergris caye weather | 4 | ambergris hotel | 2 |
ambergris caye map | 3 | ambergris belize caye estate real | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "ambergris"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | العنبر. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | амбра. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | ambra. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | grijze amber of ambergrijs. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | ambre gris (amber). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | ambra (amber), Amber (amber). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | ζωϊκό ήλεκτρο, άμβρα (amber), αμπάρο. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | ámbra. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | ambar (amber). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | ambra grigia. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 竜涎香 . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | りゅうぜ""う. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | ombyr glass. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ambergrisay ambar-cinzento, âmbar cinzento. (various references) ambrã cenuşie. (various references) серая амбра. (various references) ambra (amber). (various references) ámbar gris. (various references) ambra (ambergis). (various references) amber (musk mallow), esmeramber. (various references) сіра амбра. (various references) long diên hương. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Sumerian | 3100 BCE-2500 BCE | IM.KUU. (various references) |
| Middle French | 1400-1600 | ambre gris. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "ambergris": ambergrises. (additional references) | |
| |
"Ambergris" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: ambagris, ambegris, ambergis, ambergrist. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "ambergris" (pronounced a"mbergri's) |
| 3 | -r i' s | clitoris, Loris, orris, Paris. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-b-e-g-i-m-r-r-s" | |
-1 letter: armigers, gambiers. | |
-2 letters: ambries, armiger, barmier, begrims, brasier, gambier, gambirs, gisarme, imagers, marries, mirages. | |
-3 letters: ageism, aimers, airers, ambers, armers, armies, barges, barmie, barres, begrim, braise, breams, bregma, briars, briers, embars, gabies, gambes, gambir, gamers, gamier, gibers, grimes, imager, images, maigre, marges, mbiras, mirage, rabies, raiser, ramies, rearms, rebars, rerigs, rimers, sagier, sierra. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-b-e-g-i-m-r-r-s" | |
+2 letters: ambergrises. | |
+3 letters: embarrassing. | |
+5 letters: embarrassingly. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)41 6D 62 65 72 67 72 69 73 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).- -- -... . .-. --. .-. .. ... |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000001 01101101 01100010 01100101 01110010 01100111 01110010 01101001 01110011 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)A m b e r g r i s |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0041 006D 0062 0065 0072 0067 0072 0069 0073 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)357968718473847585 |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Usage Frequency 6. Expressions: Internet 7. Translations: Modern 8. Translations: Ancient | 9. Derivations 10. Rhymes 11. Anagrams 12. Orthography | 13. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
