caoutchouc

American  

[kou-chook, kou-chook] / ˈkaʊ tʃʊk, kaʊˈtʃuk /

noun

1. rubber.

2. pure rubber.

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caoutchouc British  

/ -ˈtʃʊk, kaʊˈtʃuːk, ˈkaʊtʃuːk, -tʃʊk /

noun

1. another name for rubber 1

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Etymology

Origin of caoutchouc

1765–75; < French < Spanish cauchuc (now obsolete), probably ultimately < an Indian language of lowland tropical South America

Example Sentences

In the 1700s, a French explorer brought the name "caoutchouc" from a local language: it meant "weeping wood".

From BBC • Jul. 23, 2019

It would not have been strange if he had arrived that same night from Madagascar or Java, after enriching himself in a caoutchouc expedition.

From The Joy of Captain Ribot by Palacio Vald?s, Armando

The collectors have already provided themselves with moulds of many kinds, according to the shape they wish the caoutchouc to assume, such as shoes, round balls, bottles with long necks, and the like.

From Afloat in the Forest A Voyage among the Tree-Tops by Reid, Mayne

The tough, adhesive mixture of caoutchouc, oil, and turpentine turned out well.

From The Swiss Family Robinson or, Adventures on a Desert Island by Wyss, Jean Rudolph

We were a semi-scientific group, looking for orchids and caoutchouc and various other things which could be transported down the Amazon and turned into good dollars at any port on the Atlantic coast.

From The Cassowary What Chanced in the Cleft Mountains by Waterloo, Stanley