oxygenn.
/ˈɒksᵻdʒ(ə)n/, U.S. /ˈɑksədʒ(ə)n/ Chemistry.† 2. Bleaching powder. Obsolete. rare.Apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries.
1.
a. A non-metallic chemical element, atomic number 8, which as a colourless, odourless gas with diatomic molecules (O2), forms approximately one-fifth of the earth's atmosphere, is essential for aerobic respiration, and is the chief agent of combustion, rusting of metals, etc., and which is also a constituent of numerous compounds, including water, many organic substances, and many minerals. Symbol O. Also figurative.Priestley, who isolated oxygen in 1774, held it to be air deprived of phlogiston, and called it dephlogisticated air.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > elements and compounds > metals > specific elements > oxygen > [noun]
dephlogisticated air1775
empyreal air1780
oxygen1788
oxygen gas1788
vital air1791
oxygenous gas1794
oxygen air1796
O1813
1788 J. St. John tr. L. B. Guyton de Morveau et al. Method Chym. Nomencl. 221 Oxygen, or that part of vital air that fixes itself in the bodies which burn, thereby augmenting their weight, and changing their nature, and whose principal property is to form the acids from which property we have derived its appellation.
1789 R. Kerr tr. A. Lavoisier Elements Chem. ii. iv. 185 Oxygen forms almost a third of the mass of our atmosphere.
1794 European Mag. 26 5 Dephlogisticated Air, or (as they are now pleased to call it) Oxygene.
1807 T. Thomson Syst. Chem. (ed. 3) II. 134 Nitric oxide is converted into nitrous oxide by abstracting a portion of its oxygen.
1866 H. E. Roscoe Lessons Elem. Chem. ii. 11 All the elements, with the single exception of fluorine, combine with oxygen to form oxides.
1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) 79 A glowing taper bursts into flame when plunged into oxygen.
1959 A. C. Hardy Open Sea II. v. 99 Bringing fresh supplies of dissolved oxygen to the gills for respiration.
1988 Holiday Which? Jan. 8/3 Plastic explosives are really just combinations of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen.
b. figurative.
ΚΠ
1828 W. S. Landor Imaginary Conversat. III. ix. 146 Vanity and agiotage are to a Parisian the oxygen and hydrogen of life.
1849 E. Bulwer-Lytton Caxtons I. ii. i. 45 Having thus exhausted all the oxygen of learning in that little receiver [sc. a preparatory school], my parents looked out for a wider range for my inspirations.
1932 Sunday Times 15 May 6 That cheerful noise which is the oxygen of ‘society’.
1993 Guardian 11 Dec. (Weekend Suppl.) 23/4 Her life is one permanent public engagement in that, without the oxygen of publicity, we can barely imagine her life at all.
c. An atom of oxygen.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > elements and compounds > metals > specific elements > oxygen > [noun] > atom of
oxygen1898
1898 Philos. Trans. 1897 (Royal. Soc.) A. 190 99 If we..assume that the value of carbonyl oxygen is the same for the ethers as for the ketones, we have all the data for calculating the value of ether oxygens.
1937 W. L. Bragg Atomic Struct. Minerals i. 36 An oxygen linked to Si and Al in this way has only a valency of one-fourth left unsatisfied.
1966 Mineral. Mag. 35 1071 These compounds contain oxygens associated with three nearly equidistant protons forming H3O+ ions.
1991 E. A. V. Ebsworth et al. Struct. Methods Inorg. Chem. (BNC) (ed. 2) 228 If the [perchlorate] ion is attached to one or more metal atoms through two of its oxygens the degeneracy is entirely removed.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > named colours > white or whiteness > whitener > [noun] > bleaching agent
blancher1477
whitener1686
white steep1804
eau de Javelle1807
chlorine1810
animal charcoal1838
chemic1843
styrone1852
bleaching powder1854
oxygen1858
decolorizerc1865
still-liquor1866
bleach1898
1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products 270/1 Oxygen, a manufacturing name for bleaching-powder.
Compounds
C1.
a. † oxygen lamp n. Obsolete
oxygen carrier n.
ΚΠ
1850 Q. Rev. Sept. 479 In this fermentation, as in that of the ill-dried sausages, the water plays a double part: that of a solvent, permitting free movement to the fermenting particles, and that of an oxygen-carrier, yielding the element essential to complete decay.
1897 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. IV. 643 [The blood-corpuscles] cannot perform such an active part as oxygen-carriers.
1972 Cytobiologie 5 52 This was the first application of the perfusion medium with a fluorocarbon as oxygen carrier.
oxygen inhalation n.
ΚΠ
1876 Proc. Royal Soc. 1875–6 24 56 We obtain our escape from being glycosuric under the process of oxygen inhalation naturally carried on.
1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 267/2 In spite of oxygen inhalations they were unconscious during the highest portion of the ascent.
2002 Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo) (Nexis) 17 Oct. 18 Customers reportedly claimed fast hangover relief and a boost of energy after 15 to 30 minutes of oxygen inhalation.
oxygen lack n.
ΚΠ
1925 Physiol. Rev. 5 554 Carbon dioxide and oxygen lack produced marked increases in respiration with very little change in the reaction of the blood.
1991 M. Lynch & V. Grisogono Strokes & Head Injuries (BNC) 141 The stroke..had produced a massive oxygen lack in the left side of the brain.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > artificial light > an artificial light > artificial light defined by light-source > [noun] > gaslight or lamp > using specific type of gas
philosophical candle1747
thermo-lamp1828
oxygen lamp1874
1874 tr. E. Lommel Nature of Light (ed. 4) 5 Termed the oxygen lamp or burner.
oxygen saturation n.
ΚΠ
1925 Industr. & Engin. Chem. 17 122/1 These products begin to appear at about 65° to 85° C., depending on the length of time the coal has been subjected to oxygen saturation.
1993 Brit. Med. Jrnl. (BNC) 6 Mar. 612 To determine the range of oxygen saturation in Nairobi, which is 1670 m above sea level, oximetry was carried out.
oxygen supply n.
ΚΠ
1860 Sci. Amer. 2 July 12/2 Placing the oxygen supply tubes, Q P P, between the inner and external cylinders, A E, and consequently in contact with the heated products of combustion, for the purpose of admitting warm oxygen to the inflammable gases within the cylinder.
1950 Sci. News 15 72 The ordinary jet engine uses oxygen from the air, but the rocket carries its own oxygen supply with it in some form.
1992 J. Mitford Amer. Way of Birth iii. viii. 141 The umbilical cord is beside or ahead of the unborn baby, cutting off its oxygen supply.
oxygen tension n.
ΚΠ
1895 Jrnl. Physiol. 18 217 The poisonous action of carbonic oxide diminishes as the oxygen tension increases.
1953 J. Hunt Ascent of Everest 273 The respiratory centre in the brain..responds normally not to the oxygen tension of the blood..but to the direct effect of carbon dioxide tension of the arterial blood.
1988 Q. N. Myrvik & R. S. Weiser Fund. Med. Bacteriol. & Mycol. (ed. 2) xxvii. 386 The organisms multiply extracellularly under favorable oxygen tensions and beyond the reach of macrophages.
oxygen treatment n.
ΚΠ
1875 First Cent. National Existence; U.S. as they were & Are 261/1 Not far from the same time, other systems of medical treatment were introduced—the ‘water-cure,’..and later the ‘Lifting cure,’ and ‘The Oxygen treatment.’
1968 New Eng. Jrnl. Med. 4 Apr. 758/1 In the past four years 25 patients suspected of having gas gangrene were sent to this hospital because of the availability of a hyperbaric oxygen treatment chamber.
1990 Jrnl. Exper. Bot. 41 888/2 The only statistically significant difference between oxygen-incubated and air-incubated seeds..is that oxygen treatment caused a relatively large increase in PFP activity on day 2 of incubation.
b. † oxygen-breeding adj. Obsolete rare
oxygen-absorbing adj.
ΚΠ
1878 W. de W. Abney Treat. Photogr. (1881) 64 Any other oxygen absorbing medium.
1995 Amer. Brewer Spring 30/2 Even the use of ZapatA SmartCaps, which are coated with an oxygen-absorbing chemical, would render a cider taxable.
ΚΠ
1855 C. Kingsley Glaucus 158 Oxygen-breeding vegetables.
oxygen-carrying adj.
ΚΠ
1872 Proc. Royal Soc. 21 71 Kuhne discovered that the same colouring-matter, the oxygen-carrying properties of which were known from other researches, was diffused in the voluntary muscular tissue of mammals, and imparted to them their red tint.
1906 Westm. Gaz. 16 Feb. 12/1 Carbon monoxide..has disastrous effects on the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood.
1968 Times 13 Nov. 16/1 The beads may be minute clumps of haemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying protein.
oxygen-dependent adj.
ΚΠ
1950 Industr. & Engin. Chem. 42 1807/1 At very low values of oxygen concentration, the linearity ceases, the absorption rate becomes oxygen-dependent, and growth rates..are adversely affected.
1990 Lancet 26 May 1264/2 Both oxygen-dependent and oxygen-independent leishmanicidal mechanisms have been implicated.
oxygen-free adj.
ΚΠ
1877 Philos. Trans. 1876 (Royal Soc.) 166 502 On adding some of Stokes's reagent the band of reduced, or oxygen-free, hæmoglobin appeared.
1933 Mining & Metallurgy 14 340/1 Oxygen-free high-conductivity copper..that is now being commercially offered for the first time represents a notable achievement in electro-metallurgy.
1991 New Scientist 31 Aug. 20/3 In this test, half of a sample of tumour cells are exposed to the drug while being incubated in air, and the other half are exposed in an oxygen-free atmosphere.
oxygen-poor adj.
ΚΠ
1923 Jrnl. Ecol. 11 193 In the deep pool, the deposits tend to fall straight into the stagnant and oxygen-poor region of the depths, where they undergo fermentation of a predominantly anaerobic type.
1969 Listener 6 Feb. 163/1 Mars has an atmosphere which is appreciable, even though it is too thin and too oxygen-poor to support any Earth creatures.
1992 New Scientist 16 May 16/2 Researchers have shown that the agents are converted into their active, cell-killing form in a reducing, or oxygen-poor, environment.
oxygen-rich adj.
ΚΠ
1904 Jrnl. Physical Chem. 8 299 It is well known that nitrogen distils off faster from liquid air than does oxygen, and that an oxygen-rich mixture is left behind.
1986 J. M. Dillard Mindshadow i. 8 Atmosphere oxygen-rich, Captain, slightly more than Terran standard.
1995 Economist 7 Jan. 73/3 Catalase and superoxide dismutase are biochemical policemen. Their role is to mop up two oxygen-rich substances—hydrogen peroxide and superoxide.
C2. † oxygen air n. Obsolete = oxygen gas n.
oxygen acid n. = oxyacid n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical substances > acids > [noun] > acids-named > containing oxygen or oxy-acids
oxyacid1834
oxygen acid1842
1842 E. A. Parnell Elements Chem. Anal. (1845) 89 The combinations of oxide of gold with oxygen acids are almost unknown.
1894 Science 16 Mar. 148/2 The anomaly of chlorine, whose most stable oxygen-acid (per-chloric acid) is the one whose molecule appears most irregular in the above diagrams, disappears.
1948 Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. 70 109/1 Kossiakoff and Harker assume..that the ionization constant of an oxygen acid is defined by the free energy of transfer of a proton from a hydroxyl group to the surrounding water structure.
2002 Biochemistry 41 15433/2 These data are similar to nonenzymic proton transfers between electronegative donor and acceptor atoms such as nitrogen and oxygen acids and bases.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > elements and compounds > metals > specific elements > oxygen > [noun]
dephlogisticated air1775
empyreal air1780
oxygen1788
oxygen gas1788
vital air1791
oxygenous gas1794
oxygen air1796
O1813
1796 J. Watt Let. 1 June in E. Robinson & D. McKie Partners in Sci. (1970) 224 I gave oxygene air to a poor boy who has a caries in the os sacrum, of some standing.
1854 H. Sherrill Treat. Homoeopathic Pract. Med. (ed. 3) 421 A very important agent, recommended in Dr. Sherrill's Essay, and brought into use—one directly supporting life, is oxygen air for patients to breathe while in a state of collapse.
oxygen bar n. an establishment where customers pay to inhale oxygen for therapeutic effects.
ΚΠ
1987 Japan Econ. Jrnl. (Nexis) 14 Nov. 7 This ready-to-use oxygen boom has prompted another of Japan's leading department stores, Takashimaya Co., to start a new business:..an ‘oxygen bar.’ At the unique bar..one can breath three minutes of condensed oxygen for a mere Y100.
1996 Cosmopolitan (U.K. ed.) Sept. 75/4 Punters in Canada and Japan are lapping up something really different—oxygen bars. Apparently, a good snort of pure O2 cures everything from a hangover to a lagging sex life.
oxygen bottle n. a cylinder of compressed or liquid oxygen.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > equipment or apparatus > [noun] > general vessels > glass > others
urinalc1300
recipient1558
matrass1591
tritory1660
balloon1678
proof-glass1765
air-bell1782
transfer-jar1827
ignition tube1874
beaker1877
bell-jar1877
flask1878
steam-bomb1895
Nessler tube1906
oxygen bottle1932
1931 Industr. & Engin. Chem. 23 213/2 The inoculated medium was siphoned to sterile dissolved oxygen bottles.]
1932 Illustrierte Technische Wörterbücher XVII. 234/1 Sauerstoffbombe (f.)—oxygen bottle—bombe (f) à oxygène—bombola (f) d'ossigeno.
1941 Flight 16 Jan. 48/1 The rigger changes the oxygen bottles and fits the starting motor to the aircraft.
1993 Central Television News Script (BNC) She's wholly dependent for breath on the oxygen bottle she's attached to.
oxygen concentrator n. chiefly Medicine a device that removes nitrogen (or both nitrogen and carbon dioxide) from air to provide pure oxygen or an oxygen-rich gas mixture.
ΚΠ
1960 C. W. Skarstrom in U.S. Patent 2,944,627 16 The primary effluent product [sc. air from which water, carbon dioxide, and contaminants have been removed]..is passed respectively to the nitrogen and oxygen concentrator systems.
1996 Pulse 20 Apr. 74/1 It..is valuable in conjunction with spirometry in assessing patients with COPD, especially those on the brink of respiratory failure who may need oxygen concentrators.
2021 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 27 Apr. a6/6 Britain pledged medical equipment, including 495 oxygen concentrators..and 140 ventilators.
oxygen debt n. Physiology the amount of oxygen consumed during recovery from exercise (in excess of the amount which would be consumed at rest); the degree of temporary oxygen shortage in the tissues arising from exercise.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > respiratory organs > breathing > [noun] > balance of oxygen retrieved after exercise
oxygen debt1923
1923 A. V. Hill & H. Lupton in Q. Jrnl. Med. 16 142 The ‘oxygen debt’ is defined as the total amount of oxygen used, after cessation of exercise, in recovery therefrom.
1969 J. H. Green Basic Clin. Physiol. xi. 66/1 It is possible to run a short distance (100 yards) without breathing... After the exercise has been completed the subject breathes deeply and rapidly for the next few minutes in order to take in oxygen to ‘repay’ the oxygen debt.
1992 Sports Illustr. 16 Nov. 78/1 My oxygen debt has been drastically reduced since I started doing carbo-load intervals.
oxygen fugacity n. the fugacity of oxygen in a particular system, esp. within a rock or mineral.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > rock > [noun] > fugacity of oxygen in
oxygen fugacity1954
1954 Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. 76 3364/2 The corrections are −44 cal. for oxygen fugacity, −301 cal. for constant pressure process and −3 cal. for temperature.
1978 Sci. Amer. Aug. 104/2 Dryness, low content of volatile elements and low oxygen fugacity are the three hallmarks of lunar-rock composition.
1987 Zeitschr. f. Anorganische u. Allgemeine Chem. 550 96 The variation of oxygen fugacity with composition of the zinc ferrite-magnetite solutions that coexist with ZnO (s) is independent of temperature.
oxygen gas n. oxygen in the gaseous state.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > elements and compounds > metals > specific elements > oxygen > [noun]
dephlogisticated air1775
empyreal air1780
oxygen1788
oxygen gas1788
vital air1791
oxygenous gas1794
oxygen air1796
O1813
1788 J. St. John tr. L. B. Guyton de Morveau et al. Method Chym. Nomencl. 129 New names. Oxygen gas [Fr. oxigène]. Gas oxygenium.
1789 R. Kerr tr. A. Lavoisier Elements Chem. i. v. 54 The oxygen gas, or pure vital air.
1896 Daily News 31 Oct. 5/3 The oxygen treatment is the application of oxygen gas to wounds and ulcers.
1991 C. Tudge Global Ecol. (BNC) 95 Each water molecule contains two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen..so, as the molecules are split, oxygen gas is released.
Categories »
oxygen lance n. see lance n.1 8.
oxygen mask n. a mask fitting over the nose and mouth through which oxygen or oxygen-enriched air is supplied.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical appliances or equipment > life-supporting equipment > [noun] > breathing equipment
resuscitator1831
artificial lung1844
respirator1854
inhaler1864
Fleuss1882
bottle1888
tent1892
pulmotor1910
oxygen mask1920
oxygen tent1925
inhalator1929
iron lung1930
cuirass1939
cuirass respirator1939
breathing apparatus1940
Ambu1960
ventilator1961
the world > action or operation > safety > protection or defence > [noun] > means of protection or defence > device or contrivance to protect a thing or person > protection worn on face > respirator
mouthpiece1790
nosebag1834
respirator1836
inhaler1864
smoke respirator1866
aerophore1876
open circuit1876
inspirator1898
muzzle1899
smoke helmet1900
gas helmet1910
gas mask1915
mask1915
oxygen mask1920
inhalator1929
closed circuit1953
1920 Abstr. Papers in Sci. Trans. & Periodicals July 177 A description is given of the oxygen mask used by the French military aviators.
1964 L. S. Brunner et al. Text-bk. Medical-surg. Nursing xii. 189/1 Those individuals whose need for supplemental oxygen is greatest..are the very ones who are most prone to resist the application of an oxygen mask.
1999 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Sept. 347/3 The oxygen masks sealed each of the climbers in his private world, the only sound his own Darth Vader-like breathing.
oxygen tent n. Medicine a tent-like enclosure within which the air supply can be enriched with oxygen.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical appliances or equipment > life-supporting equipment > [noun] > breathing equipment
resuscitator1831
artificial lung1844
respirator1854
inhaler1864
Fleuss1882
bottle1888
tent1892
pulmotor1910
oxygen mask1920
oxygen tent1925
inhalator1929
iron lung1930
cuirass1939
cuirass respirator1939
breathing apparatus1940
Ambu1960
ventilator1961
1921 Jrnl. Physiol. 55 Suppl. p. xx (heading) A simple oxygen bed tent and its use to [sic] a case of œdema and chronic ulcer of the leg.]
1925 Sci. Amer. Sept. 181/2 (caption) A portable oxygen tent for pneumonia patients.
1974 C. Hill Scorpion 55 Michael was lying under an oxygen tent..the top of his head covered in bandages.
1991 D. Wright Never such Innocence (BNC) 280 Within three days the oxygen tent had been removed and she was sitting up in bed.
oxygen toxicity n. Biology and Medicine damage to plant or animal tissue (in humans, esp. of the nervous system and lungs) caused by an increased concentration of oxygen.
ΚΠ
1942 Soil Sci. 53 146 The outstanding feature of these experiments is the production of symptoms of oxygen toxicity when soybean plants are grown at high levels of dissolved oxgyen in the substrate.
1966 Times 17 Mar. 3/1 (advt.) Duties: investigations with an interdisciplinary team into the physiology of anoxia and oxygen toxicity.
1998 Straits Times (Singapore) (Nexis) 19 June 53 (advt.) A special mix of helium, nitrogen and oxygen..allows a diver to go beyond 50m with less risk of nitrogen narcosis and oxygen toxicity—two conditions that may lead divers to drown.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online December 2022).
<
n.1788