noun
1. : a waxy crystalline saturated fatty acid CH 3 (CH 2 ) 16 COOH that occurs especially as a glyceride in tallow and other animal fats and in cocoa butter and other hard vegetable fats, that is obtained usually by saponification of these fats or of hydrogenated oils (as soybean oil or cottonseed oil) or by hydrogenation of oleic acid, and that is used chiefly in mixtures with palmitic acid — called also octadecanoic acid
2. : a mixture principally of stearic acid and palmitic acid produced commercially usually by pressing chilled fatty acid saponification products and used chiefly in rubber compounding, in candles, and in the form of metallic soaps and other derivatives in ointments and cosmetics, lubricants, and coatings