Castoreum

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

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

    "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."

  2. 2
    A hat made from beaver fur. archaic, countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
castorbeaverbeavercastor

Example

More examples

"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."

Etymology

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

Related phrases

castor sac

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.