drying oil definition of drying oil in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

drying oil, any of several natural oils which, when exposed to the air, oxidize to form a tough, elastic film. The common drying oils are cottonseed oil (see cotton cotton, most important of the vegetable fibers, and the plant from which the fiber is harvested.

The Cotton Plant

The cotton plant belongs to the genus Gossypium of the family Malvaceae ( mallow family).
..... Click the link for more information. ), corn oil, soybean oil, tung oil tung oil, oil obtained from the seeds of a tropical tree, the tung tree (Aleurites fordii) of the spurge family, and from seeds of some related species, all from Indomalesia or W Pacifica. It is known also as China wood oil and nut oil.
..... Click the link for more information. , and linseed oil linseed oil, amber-colored, fatty oil extracted from the cotyledons and inner coats of the linseed. The raw oil extracted from the seeds by hydraulic pressure is pale in color and practically without taste or odor.
..... Click the link for more information. ; the first three oils mentioned are more properly called semidrying oils. Linseed oil is the most widely used. Drying oils are used mainly in paints, varnishes, lacquers, and printer's ink. Use is recorded as early as A.D. 200 of boiled linseed oil, which dries faster than raw oil. Tung oil is imported from China, and linseed oil mainly from Argentina. Drying oils have also been prepared from various nondrying fish oils (e.g., sardine and herring oils) and from whale oil.