hyraceum, noun

/haɪˈreɪsɪəm/
Forms:
Also hyracium.
Origin:
modern LatinShow more From modern Latin hyrax, once used as the genus name for the dassie.
The crystallized urine of the hyrax (see dassie sense 1), used medicinally and as a fixative for perfume; dasses piss; dassiepis; klipsweet.
1866 Brande & Cox Dict. Sci., Lit. & Art II. 182Hyracium, An article imported, as a substitute for castor, from the Cape of Good Hope, and derived from one of the species of Hyrax.
1892 P.L. Simmonds Commercial Dict. of Trade Products (Suppl.) 462Hyraceum, a secretion of the Cape badger, at one time considered to have medicinal properties.
1923 W.A. Poucher Perfumes & Cosmetics 3Hyraceum is a secretion having a most disagreeable odour of excreta and urine, and is obtained from a species of monkey [sic]. It is occasionally used as a substitute for Castor.
1966 C. Sweeny Scurrying Bush 34The faeces of the rock rabbit..contains a substance called hyraceum, which is..incorporated in various perfumes.
1971 D.J. Potgieter et al. Animal Life in Sn Afr. 394These deposits [of the dried urine of the dassie] contain hyraceum, a valuable material used in perfumery.
1990 Skinner & Smithers Mammals of Sn Afr. Subregion 557It was claimed that crystallised dassie urine has medicinal properties and was marketed at one time under the name ‘hyracium’.
The crystallized urine of the hyrax (see dassie sense 1), used medicinally and as a fixative for perfume; dasses piss; dassiepis; klipsweet.
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18661990

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hut tax, noun phrasen. phr.i-, prefixpref.
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