castoreum

• castorium

From Latin castoreum, from Ancient Greek καστόριον (kastórion).

castoreum (countable and uncountable, plural castoreums or castorea)

1. The bitter exudate of the castor sacs of mature beavers, used as a scent mark, and as a tincture in some perfumes.

   Synonym: castor

   • 1835 November 28, Jon Pereira, “Lectures on Materia Medica, or Pharmacology, and General Therapeutics: Lecture IX: On Castoreum”, in London Medical Gazette, volume 17, page 299:

     One of the substances tried was castoreum. […] If I were to judge from my own experience, I would say castoreum has very little therapeutic power, for I have not seen much benefit from its employment in those cases to which this remedy is said to be adapted.

   • 1999, L. Sun, D. Müller-Schwarze, “Chemical Signals in the Beaver: One Species, Two Secretions, Many Functions?”, in Robert E. Johnston, Dietland Müller-Schwarze, Peter W. Sorenson, editors, Advances in Chemical Signals in Vertebrates, page 284:

     While the role of castoreum as a means of territorial advertisement has been extensively investigated and supported, the possibility of coding for sex information has not yet been excluded.

   • 2004, Christian V. Stevens, Roland Verhé, Renewable Bioresources: Scope and Modification for Non-Food Applications, page 257:

     Synthetic castoreums are now available, and can be as good as the natural fragrant^[sic].

   • 2010, Luca Turin, Tania Sanchez, “M7”, in Perfumes: The A–Z Guide, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 233:

     Real oud is complex material, with honey, tobacco, leaf, minty-fresh and castoreum animalic notes all mixed together.

2. (archaic) A hat made from beaver fur.

   Synonyms: beaver, castor

• Castoreum (genus of Mesophelliaceae)

• Heusinger, Carl Friedrich (1852) Meletemata quaedam de antiquitatibus castorei et moschi (in Latin), Marburg: Elwert, 31 pp.

• outscream

From Middle Dutch castorium, from Latin castoreum.

• IPA^(key): /ˌkɑs.toːˈreː.ʏm/, /ˌkɑsˈtoː.reː.ʏm/
• Hyphenation: cas‧to‧re‧um

castoreum n (uncountable)

1. castoreum (exudate from castor sacs)

   Synonym: bevergeil

From castor +‎ -eum.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [kasˈtɔ.re.ũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [kasˈt̪ɔː.re.um]

castoreum n (genitive castoreī); second declension

1. castoreum, castor sac exudate

Second-declension noun (neuter).

• castoreum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “castoreum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press