ProbableNamed for a product of the place
macassar oil
noun · first attested 19th century
It gave us the antimacassar: the cloth that saved chairs from greasy heads.
A perfumed hair oil sold in Britain from the early nineteenth century.
Record
- Relationship
- Named for a product of the place
- Confidence
- ProbableThe conventional story is likely, with caveats.
- Attested
- 19th century
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Makassar
- In English
macassar oil
Rowland's advertised the oil as made with ingredients from Makassar in Sulawesi, a claim that served the marketing better than it served the chemistry. The stuff stained upholstery so reliably that households pinned protective cloths to their chair backs, named against the product.
Indonesia
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