Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SOOT, n. [Sax. sot; Sw. sot; Dan. sod, sood; Ir. suth; W. swta, soot, that which is volatile or sudden. But qu. for the word is from the Ar. سَادَ sauda, to be black.]

A black substance formed by combustion, or disengaged from fuel in the process of combustion, rising in fine particles and adhering to the sides of the chimney or pipe conveying the smoke. Soot consists of more than sixteen different substances, of which carbon, ulmin, asholin, creasote, capnomor, &c. are perhaps the principal. The soot of, burnt pine forms lampblack.