Canada balsam
- noun
- /ˈkænədə ˈbɔːlsəm/
- Specialized
:
bálsamo de Canadá
- The slides were permanently mounted using Canada balsam as the adhesive.
Examples
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She prepared the microscope sample and sealed it with Canada balsam.
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Optical lenses are sometimes cemented together with Canada balsam for clarity.
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I need some Canada balsam for my microscope slides.
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The Canada balsam is essential for optical clarity.
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Optical lenses are sometimes cemented together with Canada balsam for clarity.
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She prepared the microscope sample and sealed it with Canada balsam.
-
The slides were permanently mounted using Canada balsam as the adhesive.
Synonyms
2
7.7
A sticky fragrant gum from some trees used for medicine and perfumes
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is compositionally a place-name + substance, so a learner who knows 'Canada' and 'balsam' can infer it denotes a type of balsam associated with Canada (i.e., a resin). This naming pattern is cross-linguistically common, making the basic referent transparent to B1 learners, although specialized properties and technical uses (optical mounting medium) are domain-specific and not fully predictable from the parts.
Etymology
Canada balsam is a yellow, clear 'resin' taken from the balsam fir; because it makes a strong, clear 'glue' for glass, people used it to join lenses and to mount microscope slides. So the name now refers to that optical mounting material.