sandarac

American  

[san-duh-rak] / ˈsæn dəˌræk /

noun

1. a coniferous tree, Tetraclinis articulata (Callitrus quadrivalvis ), native to northwestern Africa, yielding a resin and a fragrant, hard, dark-colored wood much used in building.

2. the brittle, usually pale-yellow, faintly aromatic resin exuding from the bark of this tree: used chiefly as incense and in making varnish.

---

sandarac British  

/ ˈsændəˌræk /

noun

1. Also called: sandarac tree.  either of two coniferous trees, Tetraclinis articulata of N Africa or Callistris endlicheri of Australia, having hard fragrant dark wood: family Cupressaceae

2. a brittle pale yellow transparent resin obtained from the bark of this tree and used in making varnish and incense

3. Also called: citron wood.  the wood of this tree, used in building

---

Etymology

Origin of sandarac

1350–1400; Middle English sandaracha < Latin sandaraca < Greek sandarákē realgar, beebread

Example Sentences

Varnish.—Place four ounces of rectified spirit of wine in a wide-mouthed bottle; add one ounce of gum sandarac, a quarter of an ounce of gum mastic, and a drachm of camphor, all in powder.

From The Lady's Album of Fancy Work for 1850 by Unknown

As both amber and sandarac had a tendency to darken the colours, "a lighter treatment," Mr Eastlake adds, "has rarely been successful without a modification of the vehicle itself."

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, No. 383, September 1847 by Various

There are two kinds, a native and an artificial, of which the former is the sandarac of the ancients, and is rather redder than the latter.

From Field's Chromatography or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists by Salter, Thomas

The translator, in a note, offers a conjecture, not without its probability, that it may have been sandarac, the "Vernice da Scrivere" of Cennino, and quotes Raffaello Borghini in his "Reposo."

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 57, No. 357, June, 1845 by Various

Argan, kharob, and lotus, with the help of a few of the "arar" or gum sandarac trees, shut off the view to the right and left.

From Morocco by Forrest, A. S. (Archibald Stevenson)