cancerinen.
/ˈkansəriːn/, /ˈkansərɪn/, U.S. /ˈkænsərin/, /ˈkænsərɪn/ North American. Now historical and rare.
A fertilizer made by grinding up horseshoe crabs ( Limulus).
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the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > preparation of land or soil > fertilizing or manuring > [noun] > use of other natural fertilizers > other natural fertilizers
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1840 H. D. Rogers Descr. Geol. New Jersey 61 It was also mentioned that an establishment for making a concentrated manure, from them [sc. king crabs], had been erected at Goshen, in Cape May County, by Messrs. Ingham & Beesley. Several hundred tons of this substance were made last year and sold under the name of Cancerine.
1864 E. Morris How to get Farm (ed. 2) 238 The manure thus produced they call cancerine, and is sold over a wide extent of country.
1871 Waukesha (Wisconsin) Freeman 31 Aug. 3/4 The cancerine is in good demand at the mill at $30 per ton.
1959 W. Ley Exotic Zool. xxi. 415 A special mill was erected at Goshen for grinding dried horseshoe crabs into a fertilizer which had the trade name ‘Cancerine’.
1992 B. Stutz Nat. Lives Mod. Times i. 8 At season's end the crabs were carted off in boats and shipped upriver to be ground up for a fertilizer sold by the name of ‘Cancerine’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1840