a pale yellow or greenish, slightly fluorescent, clear, viscous, bitter-tasting, water-insoluble liquid, having a pleasant, aromatic, pinelike odor, and solidifying on exposure to air: obtained from the balsam fir, Abies balsamea, and used chiefly for mounting objects on microscope slides, in the manufacture of fine lacquers, and as a cement for lenses. Also called Canada turpentine, balsam of fir .
[ 1810-20, Amer. ]