Ōl'e-fi-ant, a.

(Synop., § 130), a. [Fr. oléfiant; Lat. oleum, oil, and facere, to make.] (Chem.) Forming or producing oil; — applied to a gas composed of four equivalents of carbon and four of hydrogen, generally present in coal-gas, oil-gas, and other gaseous mixtures produced by the action of heat on organic substances. When mixed with twice its own volume of chlorine, both its elements are condensed into an oily compound, whence the name. It was discovered in 1796, by an association of chemists in Holland. Gregory.