Papin's digestern.
/ˌpapɪnz dʌɪˈdʒɛstə/, /ˌpapɪnz dᵻˈdʒɛstə/, U.S. /ˌpæpɪnz ˌdaɪˈdʒɛstər/, /ˌpæpɪnz dəˈdʒɛstər/ Now historical.
A strong, sealable container in which bones or other matter can be broken down or dissolved by heating in water or other fluid at a temperature and pressure above those of the normal boiling point. Cf. digester n. 4a.
ΚΠ
a1684 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1682 (1955) IV. 278 I went..to a Supper,..which was all dressed (both fish & flesh) in Monsieur Papins Digestorie; by which the hardest bones of Biefe itselfe, & Mutton, were..made as soft as Cheeze.]
1708 J. Keill Acct. Animal Secretion i. 122 The Jelly extorted by Papin's Digester out of dry and solid Bones.
1794–6 E. Darwin Zoonomia (1801) II. 412 A close vessel, which is called Papin's digester; in which it is said water may be made red hot.
1842 C. M. Kirkland Forest Life II. xlii. 171 One article in particular which Mrs. Parshalls called her ‘dish-kettle’, performed daily a round of duties which would utterly have confounded Papin's digester or the ‘marmite perpetuelle’.
1870 Nature 30 June 176/1 These had been exposed in a Papin's digester to a temperature of 142°C. for four hours.
1988 P. O'Brian Let. of Marque ii. 61 I hope the suet pudding ain't raw... He swears it can be done in a trice in a Papin's digester.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1708