n. - One of the constituents of animal fats and also of some
vegetable fats, as the butter of cacao. It is especially characterized
by its solidity, so that when present in considerable quantity it
materially increases the hardness, or raises the melting point, of the
fat, as in mutton tallow. Chemically, it is a compound of glyceryl with
three molecules of stearic acid, and hence is technically called
tristearin, or glyceryl tristearate.