depilatory

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun a chemical (usually a sulfide) used to remove hair or wool or bristles from hides
noun a cosmetic for temporary removal of undesired hair
adjective able to remove hair or render hairless

From French dépilatoire.

His depilatory failed, but he did not despair. — My man Jeeves, P. G. (Pelham Grenville) Wodehouse
This small cup is used to hold the latex employed for depilatory purposes. — The North-West Amazons: Notes of some months spent among cannibal tribes, Thomas Whiffen
Another cured all the three kinds of hectics, the tabid, atrophes, and emaciated, without bathing, Tabian milk, dropax, alias depilatory, or other such medicaments, only turning the consumptive for three months into monks; and he assured me that if they did not grow fat and plump in a monastic way of living, they never would be fattened in this world, either by nature or by art. — Gargantua and Pantagruel, François Rabelais

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