n. [ Gr. &unr_;&unr_;&unr_;&unr_;, prop., a tick, which the seed of the croton resembles. ] (Bot.) A genus of euphorbiaceous plants belonging to tropical countries. [ 1913 Webster ]

Croton oil (Med.), a viscid, acrid, brownish yellow oil obtained from the seeds of Croton Tiglium, a small tree of the East Indies. It is a most powerful drastic cathartic, and is used externally as a pustulant. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ From the Croton water of New York. ] (Zool.) A small, active, winged species of cockroach (Ectobia Germanica), the water bug. It is common aboard ships, and in houses in cities, esp. in those with hot-water pipes; -- called also the German cockroach. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

a. Of or pertaining to, or derived from, a plant of the genus Croton, or from croton oil. [ 1913 Webster ]

Crotonic acid (Chem.), a white crystalline organic acid, C3H5.CO2H, of the ethylene, or acrylic acid series. It was so named because formerly supposed to exist in croton oil. Also, any acid metameric with crotonic acid proper. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The acid characteristic of croton oil is tiglic or tiglinic acid, a derivative of crotonic acid. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Chem.) A supposed alkaloid obtained from croton oil by boiling it with water and magnesia, since found to be merely a magnesia soap of the oil. Watts. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Crotonic + acet-ylene. ] (Chem.) A colorless, volatile, pungent liquid, C4H6, produced artificially, and regarded as an unsaturated hydrocarbon of the acetylene series, and analogous to crotonic acid. [ 1913 Webster ]