white oiln.

1579 T. North tr. Plutarch Liues 742 Some say that the cause why it was so well kept, came by meanes of the dying of it, with honnie, in silkes which before had bene dyed redde, and with white oyle [Gk. δι᾽ ἐλαίου δὲ λευκοῦ] in white silkes.

1624 ‘E. Orandus’ tr. N. Flamel Expos. Hieroglyphicall Figures St. Innocent's Church-yard 152 Make the water vapour away by the fire, that is to say, the superfluous humor of the vinegre, and there will remain vnto thee a fifth essence of Gold, in forme of a white oyle incombustible.

1653 J. French Art Distillation (ed. 2) i. 36 Put fire under it: so there will distil a thin white oil like water... That white oil may be better and freer from the smell of the fire if it be drawn in Balneo.

1725 R. Brookes tr. D. Quélus Nat. Hist. Chocolate (new ed.) ii. ii. 52 The Receiver was filled with white Clouds, which I saw resolve into a kind of Dew, white and unctuous, which was partly Spirit, and partly a white Oil.

1790 W. Nicholson tr. A.-F. de Fourcroy Elements Nat. Hist. & Chem. (new ed.) II. 33 That chemist [sc. Homberg]..long laboured to obtain from the human fœces [sic] a white oil, which he expected to fix mercury into fine silver.

1885 Encycl. Brit. XIX. 513/1 By cold pressure [poppy] seeds of fine quality yield from 30 to 40 per cent. of virgin or white oil (huile blanche), a transparent limpid fluid with a slight yellowish tinge.

1899 Amer. Architect & Building News 19 Aug. 59/2 Where a white oil is desired ‘bleached, raw cold-pressed linseed-oil’ should be specified.

1907 National Provisioner 6 July 32/3 The education of students in refining crude cottonseed oil, and in making all grades of edible oils, principally known as prime summer yellow, winter white oil, cooking oil, [etc.].

1915 Nineteenth Cent. & After July 44 The products of the oil palm are chiefly the yellow oil obtained from the pericarp of the nut, and white oil from the palm kernel.

1997 Brady's Materials Handbk. (ed. 14) 618 The cold-pressed white oil [of poppy seeds] is used locally as an edible oil.

1763 Beauties of Nature & Art Displayed VI. vi. 195 The inhabitants dig wells to come at these oily springs, and find in those at the bottom of a hill..red oil, but those near the top yield a white oil as clear as water.

1807 C. Wilkinson tr. J. Reineggs & F. A. von Bieberstein Gen. Descr. Mt. Caucasus I. 170 Not far from thence, at the foot of a hill, is a well of white oil: this lights very quick, even on the water.

1860 14th Ann. Rep. Ohio State Board Agric. 1859 613 The ‘white oil’ of New York, and several patent lubricators used in this country, are sold in large quantities for a dollar or more per gallon.

1913 V. B. Lewes Oil Fuel 38 In some parts of the world small deposits of what are called ‘white oil’ are..found.

1938 F. M. Archibald in A. E. Dunstan et al. Sci. Petroleum IV. 2838/1 Petrolatum liquidum is the highest grade of white oil.

2013 Pittsburgh Tribune Rev. (Nexis) 21 Apr. Calumet turns crude oil into waxes and white oils, and then into personal care and pharmaceutical products.