Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Phenol \Phe"nol\, n. [Gr. ? to show + -ol: cf. F. ph['e]nol.]
   (Chem.)
   1. A white or pinkish crystalline substance, {C6H5OH},
      produced by the destructive distillation of many organic
      bodies, as wood, coal, etc., and obtained from the heavy
      oil from coal tar.

   Note: It has a peculiar odor, somewhat resembling creosote,
         which is a complex mixture of phenol derivatives. It is
         of the type of alcohols, and is called also {phenyl
         alcohol}, but has acid properties, and hence is
         popularly called {carbolic acid}, and was formerly
         called {phenic acid}. It is a powerful caustic poison,
         and in dilute solution has been used as an antiseptic.

   2. Any one of the series of hydroxyl derivatives of which
      phenol proper is the type.

   {Glacial phenol} (Chem.), pure crystallized phenol or
      carbolic acid.

   {Phenol acid} (Chem.), any one of a series of compounds which
      are at once derivatives of both phenol and some member of
      the fatty acid series; thus, salicylic acid is a phenol
      acid.