platinumn.adj.
/ˈplatᵻnəm/, /ˈplatn̩əm/, U.S. /ˈplætn̩əm/, /ˈplætnəm/ A. n.
1. A metallic silvery-white chemical element, atomic number 78, which is hard and relatively inert with a very high melting point, and is used especially in jewellery, electrical and laboratory equipment, and industrial catalysts. Formerly also called platina. Symbol Pt.
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the world > matter > chemistry > elements and compounds > metals > specific elements > platinum > [noun]
platinum1794
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > precious metal > [noun] > platinum
platina1752
white gold1763
platinum1794
1794 G. Pearson tr. L. B. Guyton de Morveau et al. Table Chem. Nomencl. 48/1 Platinum..white Gold.
1808 Mag. Nat. Hist. 14 660 Before the discovery of these new metals, only two bodies of this class, viz. iron and platinum, were capable of being welded.
1812 H. Davy Elements Chem. Philos. 449 Platinum was first described as a peculiar metal by Dr. Lewis, in 1754.
1827 N. Arnott Elements Physics I. 10 Platinum can be drawn into wire much finer than human hair.
1832 C. Babbage Econ. Machinery & Manuf. (ed. 2) xiv. 121 In Russia platinum has been employed for coin.
1866 H. Watts Dict. Chem. IV. 665 The unalterability of platinum at high temperatures, and its power of resisting the action of most chemical agents, render it extremely useful for the construction of crucibles, evaporating dishes, forceps for blowpipe experiments, etc.
1938 R. Hum Chem. for Engin. Students xxviii. 797 Platinum occurs native as nuggets or as particles in alluvial sand.
1969 V. Nabokov Ada i. xxxvi. 223 The set..consisted of a large folding board of saffian and a boxful of weighty rectangles of ebony inlaid with platinum.
1987 E. H. J. Pallett Aircraft Electr. Syst. (ed. 3) x. 160/2 Electrodes must operate under very severe environmental conditions, and the materials normally chosen are nickel, platinum and iridium.
2004 In Style (Nexis) Fall 152 (caption) Drop-diamond earrings in platinum, Bulgari, $55,000.
2. A greyish-white or silvery colour resembling that of platinum.
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > white or whiteness > [noun] > greyish white
oyster1922
platinum1923
1923 Daily Mail 1 Aug. 2 In the following colours: Black, White,..Suede, Platinum and Champagne.
1951 E. Paul Springtime in Paris (U.K. ed.) xvi. 313 Looking pensively down at the moving river surface, ebony and indigo. The moon, coming out thinly.., contributed platinum.
1976 Milton Keynes Express 11 June 38/2 (advt.) 1974, ‘M’ Vauxhall Victor 2300 Auto Saloon. Finished in platinum, fitted wing mirrors, radio.
1992 European Trav. & Life Mar. 7 (advt.) Our embroidered lace bedding is offered in white, champagne and platinum.
3. A platinum-coloured fox. rare.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > [noun] > genus Vulpes > other types of
karagan1800
Magellanic fox1837
dog fox1882
platinum1948
1948 A. L. Rand Mammals E. Rockies 105 Various other ‘varieties’ [of red fox] have been developed on fur farms, including the platinums and various white-spotted phases.
B. adj.
1.
a. Made of platinum, consisting of platinum.
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society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > precious metal > [adjective] > resembling platinum > made of platinum
platina1794
platinum1808
1808 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 98 68 Exposed to a violent heat in a platinum crucible, this salt left 4.2 grains of pure lime.
1840 Penny Cycl. XVI. 40/1 Heated in a platinum spoon it [sc. balsam of Peru] burns with a white smoke.
1899 J. Cagney tr. R. von Jaksch Clin. Diagnosis (ed. 4) vi. 206 A particle..of the cultivation from agar is taken on a platinum point.
1906 H. J. H. Fenton Notes Qualitative Anal. (new ed.) 8 Compounds of antimony in solution acidulated with HCl, and poured on to a piece of zinc in contact with platinum foil, give a black stain of metallic antimony on the platinum.
1935 D. Thomas Let. 27 Oct. (1985) 202 They're to present me..with a platinum walking-stick, complete with bell.
1978 S. Sheldon Bloodline xlviii. 396 She took a thin black cigar from her purse and lit it with a platinum lighter.
1991 Nature 24 Jan. 313/2 Here we describe a non-porous platinum catalyst.
b. Of the colour of platinum, greyish-white, silvery.
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1907 Times 1 Oct. 8/5 (advt.) The platinum lace and ivory appliqué with which the chemisette is adorned.
1923 Daily Mail 14 Aug. 1 The wide collar and side panels..are made of the richest pulled Platinum Coney.
1932 Times 18 Apr. 10/2 Miss Colbert, whose admirers will probably wish to know that whereas she wore platinum hair in her last film she is in this one a blonde.
1950 ‘S. Ransome’ Deadly Miss Ashley i. 12 She was wearing a fur piece... It was platinum mink.
1978 D. Francis Trial Run i. 11 Her fine-boned face and thick platinum hair.
2002 Rocky Mountain News (Denver) (Nexis) 21 Feb. 6 d An ivory wool jacket with a fox collar, beige lambskin pants with fox fringe trim and a platinum mink and fox hood.
2. Designating a particularly important anniversary (now in most Western countries spec. the 70th anniversary, and in South Asia spec. the 75th anniversary) of a significant event, as a wedding, the accession of a monarch, etc. Chiefly in platinum anniversary, platinum jubilee, platinum wedding.Cf. golden adj. 11.
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1888 Edinb. Evening News 27 Feb. (4th ed.) The happier Edward III. and his good Queen Philippa might have made a ‘platinum wedding’ of it had they been so minded.
1905 Daily Mirror 18 Aug. 3/3 ‘Platinum’ wedding... Diamond weddings pale before that to be celebrated at Verjux (Saône) on August 20. M. Farion is a century old. His wife, whom he married seventy-five years ago, is ninety-two.
1920 Evening Star (Washington, D.C.) 27 Oct. 10/2 Dr. and Mrs. John E. Moore..hope to celebrate soon their platinum wedding anniversary, if there is any such thing. Last Thursday Dr. and Mrs. Moore gave a large party in honor of the sixty-eighth anniversary of their marriage, and that being almost twenty years after their golden wedding, they think they are entitled to another ‘real’ anniversary in a short while.
2010 Times of India 14 Mar. b4/5 The Reserve Bank of India has, as part of its Platinum Jubilee Celebrations, set up an exhibition of bank notes issued since 1935.
2022 Independent (Nexis) 6 Feb. (News section) The Queen has become the first British monarch in history to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee.
3. Originally U.S. Designating a framed platinum gramophone record presented to a musician or group for sales of a recording that exceed a specified high figure, esp. in platinum disc; (also) designating a recording which has achieved such sales. Now also occasionally in extended use with reference to other products. Cf. gold adj. 5.The number of sales needed for the award of a platinum disc varies from country to country; in the United States, it is one million. to go platinum: to achieve sales in excess of a specified high figure.
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society > communication > record > recording or reproducing sound or visual material > sound recording and reproduction > [verb (intransitive)] > sell specific number of records
to go gold1957
to go platinum1964
society > communication > record > recording or reproducing sound or visual material > sound recording and reproduction > a sound recording > [adjective] > type of record
long-playing1883
out of print1896
seven-inch1902
twelve-inch1903
ten-inch1908
white-label1927
instantaneous1937
single-sided1937
long-play1948
pre-electric1960
platinum1964
society > communication > record > recording or reproducing sound or visual material > sound recording and reproduction > a sound recording > [noun] > record or disc > type of record
pre-release1871
record album1904
re-release1907
ten-inch1908
twelve-incher1909
demonstration record1911
pressing1912
swinger1924
repressing1927
transcription1931
long-player1932
rush release1935
pop record1937
album1945
demonstration disc1947
pop disc1947
pop single1947
long-play1948
picture disc1948
781949
single1949
forty-five1950
demo disc1952
EP1952
shellac1954
top of the pops1956
gold disc1957
acetate1962
platinum disc1964
chartbuster1965
miss1965
cover1966
reissue1966
pirate label1968
rock record1968
thirty-three (and a third)1968
sampler1969
white-label1970
double album1971
dubplate1976
seven-inch1977
mini-album1980
joint1991
1964 Los Angeles Times 18 Oct. (Calendar Suppl.) Bing has starred in 56 pictures in 25 years, has a platinum disc for more than 2 million records and has been tops in everything.
1971 New Yorker 21 Aug. 22/3 ‘The “Paranoid” album will be awarded a platinum disc very shortly!’ ‘What's a platinum disc?’ we shouted. ‘When you sell a million units of an album, you get a platinum disc!’
1978 Time 18 Sept. 81/3 The Austin sound..began..racking up sales once scarcely dreamed of in the country field. In the past two years, three such albums have gone platinum.
1984 Southern Rag No. 22. 13/1 It proceeded to sell two million! Even I didn't see that coming. Year Of The Cat was platinum or gold all over the world.
1992 Sci. Amer. May 48/1 (advt.) It takes lots of screaming fans to go platinum eleven times. Eleven million, to be exact.
2000 Bookseller 4 Feb. 5/4 The Gold and Platinum Cover Awards for bestselling titles, unveiled at the British Book Awards this week, mirror the format of gold and platinum discs given to bestselling records.
Compounds
C1.
a. Of or containing platinum.
platinum compound n.
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1850 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 140 113 (note) The aniline thus reproduced was identified by the analysis of the platinum-compound.
1983 New Scientist 24 Feb. 521/1 Inorganic substances are now rarely used to treat diseases, but one platinum compound may prove to be a powerful new anticancer drug.
platinum ore n.
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1848 Sci. Amer. 1 July 323/2 Rhodium..is contained to the amount of three per cent in the platinum ore of Antioquia in Columbia.
1917 Science 29 June 666/1 Persons searching for platinum ores should remember, however, that the assay for platinum is difficult and apparently can not be successfully made by all commercial assayers.
2004 Canberra Times (Nexis) 24 July b8 Krasnoyarsk region..produces a quarter of Russia's aluminium, 99 per cent of its platinum ore and 65 per cent of its nickel.
platinum salt n.
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1845 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 135 255 (table) Platinum-salt obtained..10.10 grs.
1988 M. Haworth-Booth Photogr. Now (BNC) 88 Paper sensitized with platinum salts can, in experienced hands, suggest luminosity within the paper.
b. Prefixed to the names of other metals, denoting alloys of platinum with those metals.
platinum-iridium n.
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1865 Proc. Royal Soc. 14 160 The standard obtained has been expressed in platinum, in a gold-silver alloy, in a platinum-silver alloy, in a platinum-iridium alloy, and in mercury.
1901 Brit. Med. Jrnl. No. 2095 (Epitome) 32 The author recommends electrolysis with a platinum-iridium needle.
1993 R. J. Pond Introd. Engin. Technol. (ed. 2) v. 102 The primary standard for the kilogram is a cylinder of platinum-iridium alloy kept by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Paris, France.
platinum steel n.
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1852 N. Amer. Rev. Oct. 372 The only effect was, to give currency for a time to ‘silver steel,’ and ‘platinum steel’, which the manufacturers have since found to be mere follies.
1875 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Platinum-steel, steel alloyed with 1/ 110 part of platinum. It is said not to be quite so hard as silver steel, but tougher.
1973 Notes & Rec. Royal Soc. 27 295 Hadfield comments..after examining Faraday's platinum steels, ‘Platinum at any rate in amounts up to about 2.5 per cent is therefore soluble in either low or high carbon steel.’
C2.
platinum black n. platinum in the form of a finely divided black powder, used as a catalyst and absorbent for gases.
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the world > matter > chemistry > elements and compounds > metals > specific elements > platinum > [noun] > compounds
platinum black1850
1850 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 140 779 A small portion of finely-divided platinum (prepared from platinum-black by ignition).
1878 W. de W. Abney Treat. Photogr. (1881) 157 The prints produced by this [platinum] process are exceedingly beautiful, and, as platinum black forms the image, they may be considered as being far more permanent than a silver print.
1984 N. N. Greenwood & A. Earnshaw Chem. of Elements (1986) xxvii. 1331 Platinum black..is a velvety-black powder obtained by adding ethanol to a solution of PtCl2 in aqueous KOH and warming.
platinum blue n. [after German Platinblau (Hofmann & Bugge 1908, in Berichte der Deutsch. Chem. Ges. 41 312)] any of a class of dark blue polymeric complexes, a number of which have anti-tumour activity, which are formed by divalent platinum with amide ligands; (originally) spec. one formed with acetamide.
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the world > matter > chemistry > organic chemistry > organic compounds > [noun] > other organic compounds
xanthide1823
idrialin1838
barégin1863
violantin1866
biguanide1881
turmerol1890
tetrazole1892
oxazolone1899
indanthrene1901
silicone1906
platinum blue1908
hydroxycitronellal1929
haloform1931
octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane1946
organo-siloxane1946
chlorofluorocarbon1947
permethrin1975
CFC1976
the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medicines for specific purpose > preparations treating or preventing specific ailments > [noun] > for tumour
platinum blue1908
nitrogen mustard1943
mustard1945
piperoxan1950
melphalan1960
procarbazine1965
bleomycin1966
1908 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. 94 i. 141 (heading) Platinum-Blue.
1975 Cancer Chemotherapy Rep. 59 296/1 We tentatively conclude from these early results that the ‘platinum blues’ may have activity against a broad spectrum of tumors.
1992 Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. 114 8110 The first mixed-valent octanuclear platinum blue compounds with bridging acetamidate and 2-fluoroacetamidate ligands..are crystographically characterized.
platinum-grey n. and adj. (a) n. a light shade of grey reminiscent of the colour of platinum; (b) adj. of or designating this shade of grey.
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1908 Westm. Gaz. 25 Apr. 13/2 Such a suit is a very pleasant idea for the summer. I saw one the other day in a platinum-grey.
1965 Times 25 Aug. 1/2 (advt.) Ford Corsair de luxe saloon..platinum grey with matching upholstery.
1999 Rockford (Illinois) Register Star (Nexis) 1 Feb. 1 b A platinum-gray ball gown with matching stole.
platinum lamp n. an electric lamp in which the filament is made of platinum.
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1854 E. Hitchcock Relig. Geol. 429 A strip of platinum will determine the union of oxygen and hydrogen in the platinum lamp.
1979 Science 6 Apr. 33/1 It produced a fair glow, but its high price, which would put platinum lamps at about $98 each, was prohibitive.
platinum metal n. (frequently in plural) any of a group of similar metallic elements of the transition series often associated in ores, comprising platinum, iridium, palladium, osmium, rhodium, and ruthenium.
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society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > base metal > [noun] > metals of platinum group
platinum metal1842
platinoid1881
1842 T. Graham Elem. Chem. II. v. 694 Rhodium is the most oxidable of the platinum metals.
1934 B. Emeny Strategy Raw Materials v. 117 Considerable concern arose during the World War as to whether demands for platinum metals could be met.
1992 D. M. Elsom Atmospheric Pollution (ed. 2) (BNC) 203 Its construction is similar to the oxidation catalyst except that it uses a different mixture of platinum metals.
platinum print n. = platinotype n. 1.
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society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > photography > a photograph > [noun] > photograph by process
tithonograph1842
platinotype1844
daguerreotype1849
crystallotype1852
catalysotype1853
black print1855
sun print1855
blueprint1857
ferrotype1857
tin-type1864
pyro-photograph1869
opalotype1873
gelatine picture1875
hellenotype1875
panotype1875
silver print1878
autophotograph1880
platinum print1881
bromide print1885
solar1889
solar print1889
shadowgraph1896
skiagraph1896
rotograph1899
autochrome1902
rayogram1932
reduction print1933
photogram1934
blow-up1945
Polaroid1953
opaque1959
bromide1967
1881 Manufacturer & Builder July 159 From the well-known power of resistance, or indifference, to the action of the most powerful chemical agents which platinum is known to possess, the unchangeable character of these platinum prints may readily be inferred.
1939 P. L. Anderson in K. Henney & B. Dudley Handbk. Photogr. xv. 478 If properly developed, cleared, and washed and if made on a good grade of linen paper, platinum prints will remain in new condition unless the paper support is destroyed mechanically or by fire.
1991 Portfolio Mag. Summer 35/4 Exquisite platinum prints.
platinum sponge n. a grey spongy amorphous form of platinum obtained on heating ammonium chloroplatinate and used as a catalyst.
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the world > matter > chemistry > chemical reactions or processes > [noun] > processes or substances affecting reactions > catalysis > catalyst > named catalysts
platinum sponge1824
Raney nickel1933
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > precious metal > [noun] > platinum > form of
platinum sponge1824
1824 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 114 267 It was this inefficiency of the platinum sponge on the compounds of charcoal and hydrogen in mixture with oxygen [etc.].
1894 G. S. Newth Text-bk. Inorg. Chem. iii. xiv. 644 This action is more rapid in the case of platinum sponge, when a larger surface is brought into play, and a fragment of this material introduced into a detonating mixture of oxygen and hydrogen at once determines its explosion.
1995 Jrnl. Alloys & Compounds 219 45 The ternary sodium platinum hydride Na2PtH6 was prepared via the reaction of sodium hydride with platinum sponge.
platinum-zinc adj. now historical formed of alternate plates of platinum and zinc, as a voltaic cell.
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the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > galvanism, voltaism > [adjective] > primary > relating to
platinum-zinc1840
Smee1852
Weston1895
zinc-air1970
1840 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 130 71 No such current is produced, and I conceive..that the contacts iron-zinc and platinum-zinc are entirely without electromotive force.
1849 H. M. Noad Lect. Electr. (ed. 3) 263 As copper is a better conductor of Electricity than platinum, a copper-zinc circuit ought to be more efficacious than a platinum-zinc circuit, which is contrary to fact.
1906 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) A. 205 286 He prepared silver of less specific gravity than that of normal silver, by depositing that metal on the platinum electrode of a platinum-zinc battery.
2011 A. K. Punte et al. in A. R. Møller et al. Textbk. Tinnitus lxxvii. 620/2 Feldmann reported suppressed tinnitus by Volta's platinum–zinc cell.
C3. With reference to the higher value of platinum than gold.
platinum card n. (also with capital initials) (a) (a proprietary name for) a credit card which offers a greater range of benefits and a higher credit limit than a gold card, usually offered only to those on a higher income; (b) attributive (in extended use) expensive; rich.
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1981 Fortune 18 May 15/3 A proposed venture called the ‘platinum card’.
1988 Vermont Business Mag. (Nexis) June 87 Two platinum-card condo plans for Sage Hill and a soon-to-be-renamed Salmon Hole.
1996 ‘N. Roberts’ Daring to Dream 276 I need customers... I need a hook to lure the platinum-card set in.
1999 Which? Jan. 53/1 Gold and platinum cards may have a minimum income level for applicants.
platinum disc n. see sense B. 3.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2006; most recently modified version published online May 2022).
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n.adj.1794