From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishturpentinetur‧pen‧tine /ˈtɜːpəntaɪn $ ˈtɜːr-/ noun [uncountable] DHCa type of oil used for making paint more liquid or removing it from clothes, brushes etc
Examples from the Corpus
turpentine• The place stank of paraffin and turpentine and dry rot.• It tells of homes set aflame, planes dropping turpentine bombs and the wanton shooting of unarmed black men on the street.• More like turpentine, but it's really effective.• She found only half a pint of turpentine.• Tom picked up a brush and moistened it in the turpentine cup.• I felt the velvet drapes and smelt the turpentine but loathed the girlish shoes I had to pose in.• He told him it was turpentine.• The warehouse walls blended into each other like a painting drenched with turpentine.Origin turpentine (1300-1400) Old French tourbentine, from Latin terebinthina, from terebinthus tree from which turpentine is obtained, from Greek terebinthos 