putty

putty, commonly a mixture of whiting (calcium carbonate) and boiled linseed oil. Other substances may be combined with the oil to make putties suitable for some specific purpose. For example, the red and white oxides of lead mixed with linseed oil form a putty used in sealing pipe joints. Putty hardens gradually when put in place, as along the edges of window panes to fasten them, in cracks in plaster walls, and in crevices in wood and other substances. The linseed oil absorbs oxygen from the air and, holding fast the calcium carbonate or metallic oxides, causes the mixture to harden. A powder composed of a mixture of lead and tin oxides, known as putty powder, is extensively used in polishing. Putty is generally being replaced in many applications by caulking materials of butyl and silicone rubbers. The higher cost of these materials is offset by their greater durability.

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putty

1. a stiff paste made of whiting and linseed oil that is used to fix glass panes into frames and to fill cracks or holes in woodwork, etc.

2. (as modifier): a putty knife

3. 

a. a colour varying from a greyish-yellow to a greyish-brown or brownish-grey

b. (as adjective): putty-coloured

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putty [′pəd·ē]

(materials)

A cement of dough consistency made of whiting and boiled linseed oil and used in fastening glass in sashes and sealing crevices in woodwork.

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putty

1. A heavy paste composed of pigment, such as whiting, mixed with linseed oil; used to fill holes and cracks in wood prior to painting to secure and seal panes of glass in window frames; also called painter’s putty.

2. In plastering, a fine cement consisting of lump lime slaked with water; lime putty. Now, other compounds, pre-mixed or in powdered form to be combined with water, are widely used.