a hard usually black rubber produced by vulcanizing natural rubber with large amounts of sulphur. It is resistant to chemical attack: used for chemical containers, electrical insulators, etc
Also called: ebonite
vulcanite in American English
(ˈvʌlkəˌnait)
noun
a hard, readily cut and polished rubber, obtained by vulcanizing rubber with a large amount of sulfur, used in themanufacture of combs, buttons, and for electric insulation
Also called: ebonite
Word origin
[1830–40; vulcan + -ite1]This word is first recorded in the period 1830–40. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: ante, format, grid, nationalism, paraffin-ite is a suffix of nouns denoting esp. persons associated with a place, tribe, leader,doctrine, system, etc. (Campbellite; Israelite; laborite); minerals and fossils (ammonite; anthracite); explosives (cordite; dynamite); chemical compounds, esp. salts of acids whose names end in -ous (phosphite; sulfite); pharmaceutical and commercial products (vulcanite); a member or component of a part of the body (somite)