Lac

{ Lac (lăk), ||Lakh (läk) }, n. [Hind. lak, lākh, lāksh, Skr. laksha a mark, sign, lakh.] One hundred thousand; also, a vaguely great number; as, a lac of rupees. [Written also lack.] [East Indies]

Lac, n. [Per. lak; akin to Skr. lākshā: cf. F. lague, It. & NL. lacca. Cf. Lake a color, Lacquer, Litmus.] A resinous substance produced mainly on the banyan tree, but to some extent on other trees, by the Coccus lacca, a scale-shaped insect, the female of which fixes herself on the bark, and exudes from the margin of her body this resinous substance.

☞ Stick-lac is the substance in its natural state, incrusting small twigs. When broken off, and the coloring matter partly removed, the granular residuum is called seed-lac. When melted, and reduced to a thin crust, it is called shell-lac or shellac. Lac is an important ingredient in sealing wax, dyes, varnishes, and lacquers.

Ceylon lac, a resinous exudation of the tree Croton lacciferum, resembling lac. -- Lac dye, a scarlet dye obtained from stick-lac. -- Lac lake, the coloring matter of lac dye when precipitated from its solutions by alum. -- Mexican lac, an exudation of the tree Croton Draco.