carbonn.

Brit.

/ˈkɑːbən/, U.S.

/ˈkɑrbən/

Forms: 1700s– carbon, 1700s–1800s carbone.

Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French carbone.

Etymology: < French carbone ( L. B. Guyton de Morveau et al. Méthode de nomencl. chim. (1787) 164) < classical Latin carbōn- , carbō piece of charcoal, in post-classical Latin also coal (from 13th cent. in British sources), perhaps ultimately < the same Indo-European base as hearth n.¹ Compare earlier charbon n.

a. Chemistry. A non-metallic chemical element, atomic no. 6, which occurs in crystalline form as diamond and graphite, in black, amorphous form as coal, charcoal, and soot, and in combined form in numerous substances, including all living tissues, petroleum and natural gas, and many minerals. Also as a count noun: an atom of this element. Symbol C.Carbon atoms, which have a valency of four, are able to link with each other and with other atoms (esp. hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen) to form chains and rings, and a great variety of carbon compounds (organic compounds) exist. The two familiar carbon allotropes are diamond, which is a hard, transparent, electrically insulating substance and graphite, which is opaque, lubricating, and an electrical conductor. Since the 1980s a large family of other crystalline forms (fullerenes) has been discovered, based on hollow structures consisting of large numbers of carbon atoms.activated, active, pyrolytic, retort carbon, etc.: see the first element.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > chemistry > organic chemistry > carbon > [noun]

carbon1788

charcoal1800

the world > matter > chemistry > elements and compounds > metals > specific elements > carbon > [noun]

carbon1788

1788 J. St. John tr. L. B. Guyton de Morveau et al. Method Chym. Nomencl. 32 We adopt to it the modified name of carbon, which indicates the pure and essential principle of charcoal.

1801 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 91 197 I believe it contains a little carbone, produced by the decomposition of the alcohol.

1823 W. Henry Elements Exper. Chem. (ed. 9) I. vii. 328 The diamond..was first shown by Guyton to contain carbon.

1856 P. E. Dove Logic Christian Faith vi. iv. 352 Is man's body mere carbon?

1879 Times 31 Dec. 4/6 The permutation of carbon, from its ordinary opaque black condition into..the limpid crystal of diamond.

1899 A. Lachman Spirit of Org. Chem. 72 Claisen..has proposed that if the entering radical becomes attached to a carbon, it be called a C-derivative, if to oxygen, an O-derivative.

1905 Sci. Amer. Suppl. 27 May 24586/1 The resistance medium or ‘resistor’, when solid, usually consists of a core of carbon, coke, or graphite.

1944 W. Morgan in R. Greenhalgh Pract. Builder ix. 314/1 The oxygen from the ore combines with the carbon in the pigs to form carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide.

1962 K. Kesey One Flew over Cuckoo's Nest 223 His grin was coated with carbon from years of taking out spark plugs with his teeth.

1972 Science 6 Oct. 54/1 Graphite, rhombohedral graphite, diamond, lonsdaleite and chaoite may be regarded as the first five crystal forms of carbon.

1994 D. Tulchinsky & A. B. Little Maternal–Fetal Endocrinol. (ed. 2) xxii. 432/1 Those compounds with a hydroxyl (OH) group at carbons 17 and 21 and a ketone group (C=O) at carbon 20 (cortisol, cortisone, and 11-deoxycortisol).

2000 A. Bourdain Kitchen Confid. (2001) 69 Some rube who prefers to eat his meat or fish incinerated into a flavorless, leathery hunk of carbon.

b. Chemistry. With a numeral, denoting a particular isotope of carbon.

(a) carbon-12 n. the common naturally-occurring isotope of carbon, of mass number 12.

ΚΠ

1930 Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. 52 4825 It is interesting to note that the predominant isotopes carbon 12 and oxygen 16 are without nuclear spin.

1985 W. A. Fowler in Nucl. Instruments & Methods Physics Res. B. 10–11 330/2 Hoyle came to the laboratory early in 1953 and questioned the staff about his proposed excited state in carbon twelve.

1995 D. Carey & J. I. Kirkland First Frontier v. xl. 376 Excess of carbon-12 in the biomass indicates that fires consumed as much as a quarter of Earth's plants.

(b) carbon-13 n. a stable isotope of carbon, mass number 13, which makes up about 1.1 per cent of natural carbon and is used in isotopic labelling and nuclear magnetic resonance studies.

ΚΠ

1932 Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. 54 2125 As an example we may consider carbon 13.

1990 Y. Doi Microbial Polyesters ii. 26 Carbon-13 NMR spectroscopy is also useful for the determination of copolymer compositions.

2006 M. Pollan Omnivore's Dilemma i. 22 When a C-4 plant goes scavenging for its four-packs of carbon, it takes in more carbon 13 than ordinary—C-3—plants.

(c) carbon-14 n. a long-lived radioactive isotope of carbon, mass number 14, which is the basis of the radiocarbon method of dating of organic materials and is used as a tracer element in biochemistry; cf. radiocarbon n.Carbon-14 has a half-life of 5730 years approx., being transformed by beta decay into nitrogen-14.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > chemistry > organic chemistry > carbon > [noun] > radioactive isotope

radiocarbon1936

carbon-141946

1936 Physical Rev. 49 778/1 McMillan has obtained evidence of a radio-active C¹⁴.]

1946 San Francisco Chron. 2 Jan. 4/2 Carbon 14..is not a natural carbon, is radio-active and is produced in conjunction with the cyclotron.

1973 Sci. Amer. Oct. 83/3 They supplied carbon dioxide labeled with carbon 14 to photosynthesizing sugarcane plants.

1996 A. Walker & P. Shipman Wisdom of Bones v. 85 The radioactive decay of carbon 14 to the ordinary carbon 12 happened too quickly to yield a useful date on anything as old as the bones at Olduvai.

c. Carbon dioxide or other gaseous carbon compounds released into the atmosphere.Chiefly used with reference to the contribution such gases make to global warming. Cf. Compounds 1d.Earliest in carbon emission n. at Compounds 3.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > chemistry > elements and compounds > metals > specific elements > carbon > [noun] > compounds

carbonic acid1788

carburet1788

carbure1789

carbonic acid snow1841

carbidec1865

carbon dioxide1867

champagne gas1871

carbon dioxide snow1897

methanide1924

methide1965

carbon1977

1977 Amer. Econ. Rev. 67 345/1 Table 1 shows the calculated U.S. energy consumption and world carbon emissions along the uncontrolled and controlled paths.

1990 Planet 82 Aug. 50 Fuelwood also releases 1 to 2 gigatonnes of carbon a year into the air.

2001 Star Phoenix (Saskatoon, Sask.) (Nexis) 20 Mar. c3 When we burn non-renewable coal, oil and gas to heat our homes, carbon is released into the atmosphere.

2006 Psychologies (U.K. ed.) July 153/3 Each time you fly, you make a small donation, based on the amount of carbon your flight has emitted, to a sustainable development project that is reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

2. An electrode made of carbon; esp. each of a pair of carbon rods between which an electric arc passes in an arc lamp.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > electric light > [noun] > charcoal pencil

carbon1858

the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > electric light > [noun] > charcoal pencil > one of

carbon1858

1858 Philos. Trans. 1857 (Royal Soc.) 147 362 In order to preserve the ends of the wires which are fixed into the carbon, from the action of the acid, it is sufficient to impregnate the upper end of the carbons with a little white wax.

1879 G. B. Prescott Speaking Telephone (new ed.) 403 The light..is soon extinguished by the burning or wasting away of the carbons.

1930 J. H. Jeans Universe around Us (ed. 2) v. 254 If another star has the colour of the carbon of an arc-light, we may conclude that its surface is at about the same temperature as the arc.

1957 New Yorker 13 July 21/1 The klieg light..projected a beam, by means of carbons, that emitted a light of high actinic power.

1992 J. Torrington Swing Hammer Swing! x. 94 I trimmed the carbons, squeezing as much light as was possible from the flogged-out rear mirror.

3. A dark, opaque form of diamond; = carbonado n.²

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > gem or precious stone > diamond > [noun] > other types of diamond

violastrec1400

lasque1678

black diamond1689

carbonadoa1853

carbonate1860

carbon1869

river stone1873

fish-eye1882

white1895

1869 Eng. Mechanic 20 Aug. 475/1 Those imperfectly crystallised forms of the diamond, called by some carbon diamonds, used for pointing drills, etc., are worth from five to six dollars a carat.

1903 Westm. Gaz. 6 June 9/1 ‘Black diamonds’..technically known as ‘carbons’.

1942 P. Grodzinski Diamond & Gem Stone Industr. Production App. I. 234 Ballas (also named Bort-Ballas), intermediate type between carbons and crystalline diamonds.

2004 B. A. Hofmann in P. Ehrenfreund et al. Astrobiol.: Future Perspectives xiii.322 One of the most enigmatic forms of diamonds is a variety called ‘carbonado’ or ‘carbon’.

a. Short for carbon paper n. 1.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > printing > duplicating processes > [noun] > carbon paper

camp-paper?1790

carbonic paper1808

carbonized paper1850

manifold paper1854

carbon paper1855

carbon1895

1895 E. Collyns Typists' Man. 55 Errors must not be erased while the carbons are in the machine.

1920 R. Macaulay Potterism i. iv. 46 Jane extracted carbons from a drawer and fitted them to her paper.

1978 Times 4 Feb. 11/4 When you get to the end of a page in a hurry, you find you have put the carbons in back to front and have got to start again.

2003 Chicago Sun-Times (Nexis) 18 A policy writer would make the rounds with his ticket book equipped with carbons to take bets from customers who would pick from 78 numbers.

b. Short for carbon copy n.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > printing > duplicating processes > [noun] > carbon paper > copy made by

carbon copy1876

carbon1916

1916 E. W. Sargent Technique Photoplay (ed. 3) 104 Carbons are always to be made of any script in no matter what fashion it may be prepared.

1940 H. Innes Trojan Horse iii. 62 I signed the carbon and placed it in a foolscap envelope.

1982 Times 15 Nov. 6/2 Obtaining card numbers and expiry dates from carbons is one of the latest in an ingenious range of tricks used by cedit [sic] card crooks.

2004 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 13 Nov. b2 They had become stenographers instead of diggers, trading carbons of stories with one another, operating as a rat pack.

Compounds

C1. attributive.

(a) Of or relating to the element carbon, as carbon content, carbon deposit, carbon isotope, carbon particle, etc.Some of the more established compounds of this type are treated separately.

ΚΠ

1807 J. Barlow Columbiad v. 197 When at his word the carbon clouds shall rise.

1837 Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. 5 392 In one volume of the carburet, there are two of hydrogen and two of carbon vapour.

1876 R. Routledge Discov. & Inventions 19th Cent. 308 Such is..the spectrum which these incandescent carbon particles produce: it resembles the solar spectrum.

1908 Westm. Gaz. 1 Oct. 4/2 Carbon deposits from the piston or combustion-chamber walls.

1950 L. E. Hawker Physiol. Fungi iv. 122 Fumaric acid was produced containing the labelled carbon isotope in the carboxyl group.

1970 Fremdsprachen 14 135 The carbon slurry is drawn off the bottom of the column to one of the dewatering bins.

1990 Old-house Jrnl. Jan. 20/2 The low carbon content of wrought iron makes it very malleable.

2007 Edmonton (Alberta) Jrnl. (Nexis) 13 July j2 Carbon deposits can build up around fuel injectors and carburetors.

(b)

carbon atom n.

ΚΠ

1843 S. L. Metcalfe Caloric II. ii. 517 The immediate union of many oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon atoms.

1932 I. D. Garard Introd. Org. Chem. ii. 20 At average room temperature, those normal paraffin hydrocarbons containing four carbon atoms or less are gaseous.

2005 R. McNeill Alexander Human Bones vi. 153 The first stage of photosynthesis for most trees, shrubs and temperate grasses is the formation of a molecule containing three carbon atoms.

carbon compound n.

ΚΠ

1855 E. L. Youmans Chem. Atlas vi. 52 Carbon..exists in every organized substance; so that this branch of the science has been defined as the chemistry of carbon compounds.

1907 G. M. Norman Systematic Pract. Org. Chem. ii. 96 The Carius method for estimating halogens in carbon compounds.

1998 L. Margulis & K. V. Schwartz Five Kingdoms (ed. 3) i. 59/1 Halophils abide in a variety of newly discovered hypersaline environments, taking in as food a variety of carbon compounds.

(a) Made of carbon, spec. (a) (chiefly of electrical equipment) made of compressed charcoal, lampblack, etc., as carbon anode, carbon cylinder, carbon plate, carbon points, carbon resistor, etc.; (b) made of carbon fibre or carbon composite, as carbon mast, carbon pole, etc.Some of the more established compounds of this type are treated separately.

ΚΠ

1856 Proc. Royal Soc. 8 236 A decomposing tube in which the gases are generated from carbon poles.

1859 Sci. Amer. 1 Oct. 230/2 The carbon cylinders for the Bunsen batteries are made with powdered hard charcoal.

1875 P. G. Hamerton Intellect. Life (ed. 2) vii. iii. 238 The light that plays between the wedded intelligences as the electric light burns between two carbon points.

1922 T. M. Lowry Inorg. Chem. xviii. 191 Molten silver chloride is electrolysed between a silver cathode and a carbon anode.

1935 C. J. Smith Intermediate Physics (ed. 2) v. xlix. 832 The ends of the coil are joined to two metal rings each touching..a carbon plate.

1953 F. G. Spreadbury Design Electronic Measuring Instruments 34 If carbon resistors must be used they should be of the cracked type and underrated.

1986 Golf Monthly July 15/4 Golfers from Asia..are using carbon drivers.

1990 Angler's Mail 28 July 40/4 (advt.) Browning Pro, competition 11 metre carbon pole.

1998 Yachts & Yachting 21 Aug. 111/2 (advt.) A-class, carbon mast, Kevlar glass epoxy hulls, with launch trolley, cover,..£2,800.

1999 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 96 14222/2 Electrochemically etching the..wires..with a carbon plate counter electrode.

2005 Cycling Plus Apr. 72/2 Carbon forks used to be found on mid-range or better road bikes.

(b)

carbon brush n.

ΚΠ

1879 U.S. Patent 220,248 1/1 The invention consists in the arrangement of carbon..in rods or threads..and secured in bundles..to form a carbon brush to take the place of carbon plates, points, or candles, now used.

1891 Manufacturer & Builder Oct. 219/2 The motor..is fitted with their new self-oiling bearings and carbon brushes.

1947 R. Lee Electronic Transformers & Circuits viii. 214 The moving tap is a carbon brush which slides over exposed turns of a winding.

1992 Pract. Householder Nov. 10/3 The carbon brushes will also need renewing every so often especially if you see excessive sparking.

carbon electrode n.

ΚΠ

1845 Mechanics' Mag. 4 Jan. 29/2 A speck of intense light can be produced, which will enable one to read small print at a distance of nearly eighteen inches from the carbon electrodes.

1890 Science 2 May 267/1 A pencil-shaped carbon electrode, fixed and immovable, standing vertically in the bottom of the lamp-frame.

1970 R. W. Thomas Iron & Steel iii. 25/1 The heat is provided by three carbon electrodes supplied through a three-phase transformer.

2001 R. W. Cahn Coming of Materials Sci. xi. 447 The first dry battery was the 1868 Leclanché cell, using a carbon electrode in a pasty mixture of MnO₂ and other constituents.

carbon filament n.

ΚΠ

1880 Times 5 Jan. 9/6 The steadiness, reliability, and non-fusibility of the carbon filament, Mr. Edison tells us, are not the only elements incident to the new discovery.

1922 Gas Manuf., Distribution & Use (Brit. Commerc. Gas Assoc.) ii. 86/1 A carbon filament has an intrinsic brilliancy of about 400 candle-power per square inch.

1993 D. Burrus & R. Gittines Technotrends (1994) App. A. 328 Composites are materials such as ceramics and plastics that have been reinforced with synthetic fibers and carbon filaments.

carbon rod n.

ΚΠ

1869 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 159 188 In less than half an hour nearly half the thickness of the carbon rod was disintegrated and fell as a loose powder to the bottom of the vessel.

1935 C. J. Smith Intermediate Physics (ed. 2) v. xlviii. 805 The arc lamp consists essentially of two carbon rods, generally at right angles to one another.

1990 Compl. Angler's Guide Spring 8/3 Many..are now switching to more modern carbon rods.

c. Chemistry. In names of compounds of carbon, as carbon dichloride, carbon nitride, carbon oxysulphide, carbon tetrabromide, etc.Recorded earliest in carbon dioxide n.

ΚΠ

1867 Proc. Royal Soc. 16 222 Vanadium pentoxide fused with sodium carbonate displaces three molecules of carbon dioxide.

1875 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. 28 746 The distillate which comes over slowly consists of perchlorethylene holding in solution aniline and carbon sesquichloride.

1879 Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. 1 175 He thus removes carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, cyanogen, carbon disulphide, carbon oxysulphide.

1899 Lancet 1 July 7/2 A more logical comparison would be that of carbon tetrachloride and carbon dichloride (C₂Cl₄) or carbon trichloride (C₂Cl₆).

1940 G. H. J. Adlam & L. S. Price Higher School Certificate Inorg. Chem. (ed. 2) xxxvi. 312 Carbon tetrabromide, CBr₄, is made by the action of bromine on carbon disulphide in the presence of iodine as a ‘carrier’ or catalyst.

1993 K. S. Robinson Green Mars (new ed.) 190 Factories to produce and release into the atmosphere a special greenhouse gas mix, composed mostly of carbon tetrafluoride, hexafluoroethane, and sulphur hexafluoride.

2006 Nanotechnology 17 5798 Carbon nitride nanostructures have been created using the novel technique of liquid phase pulsed laser ablation of a graphite target.

d. Originally: of or relating to carbon metabolism in organisms, and the cycling of carbon compounds in natural ecosystems, to which the photosynthetic fixation of carbon dioxide is central; (in later use also) of or relating to carbon compounds in the atmosphere as associated with climate change (cf. sense 1c); as carbon assimilation, carbon budget, carbon economy, carbon source, carbon storage, etc.ⓘ

ΚΠ

1890 Polit. Sci. Q. 5 566 Man, the carbon-source, and the cabbage, the oxygen producer, typify two poles of an economic order.

1916 Sci. Monthly Sept. 294 With the simplest bacteria which live directly on the lifeless world we find that most of the fundamental chemical energies of the living world are already established, namely..the protein and carbon storage, the primary food supply of the living world.

a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) II. 1204 The discovery of the process of carbon assimilation (also called photosynthesis)..is an interesting chapter in the history of science.

1957 Bot. Gaz. 121 31/1 A consideration of the carbon economy for the highly efficient utilization of CO₂ by these plants.

1967 Water Res. 1 147 The carbon budget concept: a quantitative measure of trophic state.

1989 S. H. Schneider Global Warming (1990) vi. 178 Spruce, fir, and hardwood forests would be replaced ‘by a stunted pine-oak forest of much lower carbon storage’.

1993 N.Y. Times 8 June c4/1 For years, scientists concerned about the environmental effects of burning fossil fuels have tried to balance the global carbon budget.

2002 Kew Winter 4/1 The invasive trees and shrubs that are encroaching onto many areas of natural grassland were thought to be a particularly important carbon sink, helping to balance the nation's ‘carbon budget’.

2002 BusinessWeek 4 Nov. 12/4 Energy and environment broker Natsource is building a carbon ‘bank’. Companies would deposit emissions cuts and get credit for them under various trading plans.

C2. Parasynthetic and objective.

carbon-based adj.

ΚΠ

1956 V. E. Yarsley & E. G. Couzens Plastics in Service of Man 104 Silicones may..be thought of as half-way between carbon-based plastics and silicon-based rocks.

1993 USA Weekend 24 Jan. 20/1 Propose an $80-per-ton fee on carbon-based fuels to help stabilize emissions of greenhouse gases.

2002 J. Cohen & I. Stewart Evolving Alien iv. 65 Naive astrobiologists take a rigid line and act as if the only possible kind of life is carbon-based with DNA heredity.

carbon-containing adj.

ΚΠ

1843 Brit. & Foreign Med. Rev. 15 496 What would he say, to extending his theory of those carbon-containing substances a little farther?

1928 A. B. Callow Food & Health 11 Proteins, carbohydrates, and fats are all carbon-containing (organic) compounds, capable of being used by the body as fuel.

1999 S. Pal Arya Air Pollution, Meteorol. & Dispersion i. 12 Carbon-containing material including soot, condensed organic matter, and certain toxic compounds.

C3.

carbon arc n. an electric arc struck between electrodes made of carbon, used esp. as an intense source of light; frequently attributive.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > electric light > [noun] > charcoal pencil > bridge between poles

arc1821

carbon arc1879

1879 Fort Wayne (Indiana) Sentinel 2 May Governing the amount of current passing in a carbon arc lamp.

1880 Scribner's Monthly Feb. 534/2 Mr. Edison..soon discarded the carbon arc.

1927 Lancet 1 Jan. 15 The therapeutical use of the carbon-arc light.

1957 Welding, Brazing & Soldering of Wiggin Nickel Alloys (H. Wiggin & Co. Ltd.) 38 Appropriate electrodes and holders..are available from the usual suppliers of carbon-arc welding equipment.

1997 Icon Thoughtstyle Mag. Apr. 123/3 With carbon arcs, there's a certain color shift in the flashes; they sort of warm up and cool off.

carbon bisulphide n. = carbon disulphide n.

ΚΠ

1868 H. B. Jones & H. Watts Fownes's Man. Elem. Chem. (ed. 10) ii. 218 Carbon disulphide or bisulphide.

1936 Amer. Home Feb. 40/1 Ants: Make small holes in infected area... Into each hole put 1 tablespoonful carbon bi-sulphide and cover immediately with soil.

1998 Chattanooga (Tennessee) Times (Nexis) 21 May b1 A Norfolk Southern railcar ruptured and spilled 10,000 gallons of carbon bisulfide into a nearby pond.

carbon bronze n. a kind of bronze containing a small proportion of carbon.

ΚΠ

1876 Iron Age 4 May 24/5 Within the last three or four years several new alloys have been discovered and named, such as steel bronze..and now carbon bronze.

1952 Automobile Engineer 42 379/3 Operation [of a clutch] is by means of a carbon bronze thrust ring.

1998 Metal Finishing Nov. 82/3 Large, spring-loaded carbon-bronze contact shoes.

carbon budget n. (a) (a record of) the inputs, outputs, and retention of carbon by an organism or ecosystem, forming part of the carbon cycle; (b) the maximum amount of carbon (typically expressed in terms of the equivalent in tons of carbon dioxide) that can be released into the atmosphere over a given period as a result of human activity without causing harmful changes to the climate.In sense (b), such upper limits may be agreed nationally or internationally.

ΚΠ

1950 Ecology 31 107/2 The sizes of populations which will be supported in a marine inshore area are dependent upon the quantities of organic detritus which may serve as food, either directly or by contributing to the total carbon budget.

1989 Independent (Nexis) 5 Aug. 36 Moves are afoot..to call an international conference in 1992 on carbon dioxide emissions and global warming similar to the recent meeting at Montreal on the ozone layer. That could result in each country being allocated a 'carbon budget'.

1997 Ecol. Applic. 7 461/1 In recent years, there has been considerable interest in evaluating the carbon budget of forest ecosystems, due to their important role as carbon sources and sinks.

2019 R. Chris in T. M. Letcher Managing Global Warming ii. 61 There is no combination of plausible policies that would avoid breaching the 1.5°C carbon budget.

carbon capture n. (originally) the fixation of carbon dioxide by a plant or microorganism; (in later use also) the trapping and storage of carbon dioxide produced by power plants or industrial facilities, in order to prevent it from reaching the atmosphere and contributing to global warming; = carbon capture and storage n.

ΚΠ

1971 C. S. Decker Accelerated Recovery Acid Strip-mine Lakes (MS thesis, Univ. of Missouri) 81 in Water Pollution Control Legislation Pt. 8: Hearings before U.S. Senate Comm. Public Wks. (92nd Congr., 1st Sess.) 4286 Algal utilization of respiratory carbon dioxide provided an important means of carbon capture for reuse as a sulfate reducing bacteria energy source to continue recovery or absorb additional acid inflow.

1995 Proc. 30th Intersociety Energy Conv. Eng. Conf. III. 81 Carbon capture from power stations.

2009 Review (Rio Tinto) Sept. 26/2 As well as creating one of the first commercially robust power generation plants in the world with carbon capture facilities, the project would also be the first in the Middle East using CO₂ injection for enhanced oil recovery.

carbon capture and storage n. the trapping and storage of carbon dioxide produced by power plants or industrial facilities, in order to prevent it from reaching the atmosphere and contributing to global warming; abbreviated CCS.

ΚΠ

1988 Canad. Press (Nexis) 15 Dec. We need to develop and deploy carbon capture and storage technology as a national priority.

2021 J. Phillips & L. Fischer Between Hope & Hype: Hydrogen Vision for UK (E3G) 21 Unprecedented progress would be needed on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) within the next decade if it is to play any meaningful role in the transition period.

carbon chain n. a number of carbon atoms bonded together in a sequence and forming part of a molecule, polymer, etc.

ΚΠ

1871 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. 24 340 The consequence of the accumulation of oxygen is the fracture of the carbon chain.

1946 A. Nelson Princ. Agric. Bot. i. 11 This molecule is so constructed that it is basic at one end of a carbon chain and acid at the other.

2001 J. H. Holloway in R. Catlow & S. Greenfield Cosmic Rays 89 Because the carbon chain of Teflon is surrounded by small non-polarizable fluorine atoms, the surface tends to ‘repel’ other materials and to be slippery.

carbon composite n. any of various artificial composite materials containing carbon fibre as a reinforcing component; cf. composite n. 2b.

ΚΠ

1965 Chem. & Engin. News 12 Apr. 31/1 A three-year, $25 million program on carbon composite materials.

1996 New Scientist 23 Mar. 34/3 Carbon composites are built up from layers of carbon fibres laid down at right angles to each other, like the grain in successive sheets of plywood.

2005 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 22 Aug. 9/2 Instead of aluminium, much of the twin-engined, twin-aisle plane will be built with carbon composite.

carbon credit n. a tradable permit which allows a country, company, etc., to produce a certain amount of carbon emissions; usually in plural.

ΚΠ

1990 Toronto Star 26 Apr. a27 Economists and some politicians are talking of carbon taxes and carbon credits.

2001 E. Losos in R. A. Fimbel et al. Cutting Edge xxvii. 631 The recent sale of national carbon credits from Costa Rica to the government of Norway for $10/ton C—totaling $2,000,000.

2006 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 28 Dec. c4/2 225 companies that have made promises to reduce greenhouse gases..are trading carbon credits on the Chicago Climate Exchange.

carbon debt n. the imbalance between global carbon emissions (or the disproportionate relative contribution to these of a particular country, group, individual, etc.) and the carbon dioxide absorption capacity of the world's oceans, vegetation, and soil (including any intentional carbon offsetting).

ΚΠ

1991 M. P. Narayanan in R. K. Pachauri et al. Energy-Environment-Devel. I. vi. 60 The industrialised countries have built up a massive carbon debt vis-a-vis developing countries like India.

2000 N. Moss Managing Planet iii. 68 These debts are dwarfed by the huge and rising carbon debt owed by the rich countries to the global community.

2011 Geelong Advertiser (Nexis) 6 Apr. 22 Burning biomass releases carbon dioxide instantly, while repaying that carbon debt through new tree growth takes years.

carbon disulphide n. a colourless, toxic, flammable liquid, used as a solvent esp. for rubber and sulphur.Formula: CS₂.

ΚΠ

1868 H. B. Jones & H. Watts Fownes's Man. Elem. Chem. (ed. 10) ii. 218 Carbon disulphide or bisulphide.

1955 K. Hutton & A. Swallow Chem. for Gen. Sci. xiv. 208 The [wood] pulp is boiled up with caustic soda and carbon disulphide and turns into a golden, syrupy liquid called viscose.

2004 Environmental Health Perspectives 112 A756/3 Breathing low concentrations of carbon disulfide..can cause headache, tiredness, and nerve damage.

carbon emission n. emission of carbon, esp. into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide as a contributor to global warming.

ΚΠ

1921 Gas Jrnl. 23 Nov. 546/1 Some gas administrators in Scotland stuck tenaciously to their 18 and up to even 22 candle gas, with all its incomplete combustion and carbon emission.

1968 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 307 151 The combustion of carbon particles can be quite important for the final carbon emission of combustion chambers, engines, etc.

1977 Amer. Econ. Rev. 67 345/1 Table 1 shows the calculated U.S. energy consumption and world carbon emissions along the uncontrolled and controlled paths.

1990 Sci. Amer. Sept. 123/1 Many politicians believe it is politically impossible to impose a tax high enough to drive down carbon emissions.

2003 S. J. Segal Under Banyan Tree i. 7 With less than 5% of the world's population, the United States is responsible for 23% of the world's carbon emission.

carbon fixation n. the capture and incorporation of carbon from atmospheric carbon dioxide into organic compounds in the metabolic processes of living organisms, esp. through photosynthesis by green plants.

ΚΠ

1863 St. James's Mag. 8 303 The sun may be said..to be the ultimate cause of carbon fixation.

1917 J. W. Harshberger Mycol. & Plant Pathol. iii. 27 In the process of photosynthesis, or carbon fixation, by green plants..free oxygen is formed.

1993 R. L. Zimdahl Fund. Weed Sci. viii. 150 The C_three cycle for carbon fixation is the dominant mechanism in plants.

2000 Nature 26 Oct. 959/3 According to their data, C₄ carbon fixation may be confined to the cytoplasm, spatially segregated from the Rubisco process, which occurs in the chloroplasts.

carbon footprint n. the environmental impact of a particular individual, community, or organization, or of a specific event, product, etc., measured in terms of the total associated greenhouse gas emissions, and typically expressed in terms of the (annual) equivalent in tons of carbon dioxide; cf. footprint n. 8.

ΚΠ

1999 BBC Vegetarian Good Food Apr. 86/2 To cancel out the damage we do, Morrell believes we should plant trees, and that in doing so an individual or organisation can erase their carbon ‘footprint’.

2006 Hamilton (Ont.) Spectator (Nexis) 10 June d16 Somebody who wants to reduce his ‘carbon footprint’ can bicycle to work.

2011 True Loaf (Real Bread Campaign) No. 6. 10/1 Grain shipped to the UK from Australia will have a lower carbon footprint than if this same quantity of grain had been transported the same distance overland in a fleet of lorries.

carbon–14 date n. = carbon date n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > time > reckoning of time > chronology > [noun] > assignment to a time or dating > dating methods > date ascertained by

age dating1941

carbon date1950

radiocarbon date1950

carbon–14 date1951

1951 Biblical Archaeol. 14 28 Dr Libby's results show them to be about 2,000 years old, which is consistent with other carbon-14 dates obtained from Peruvian samples.

2005 Physics Educ. 40 67/1 We would wish to see some historical evidence that the Shroud existed before the carbon-14 date.

carbon–14 date v. = carbon-date v.

ΘΚΠ

the world > time > reckoning of time > chronology > arrange chronologically [verb (transitive)] > use methods of dating

carbon-date1953

radiocarbon-date1956

carbon–14 date1957

age-date1967

1957 S. Afr. Archaeol. Bull. 12 25 This deposit was carbon-14 dated as being 6310 ±250 years old.

2003 Sacramento (Calif.) Bee (Nexis) 12 Sept. b 2 The wood was carbon-14 dated to 1410 and tentatively identified as a species unknown in North America.

carbon–14 dating n. = carbon dating n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > time > reckoning of time > chronology > [noun] > assignment to a time or dating > dating methods

fluorine test1895

cross-dating1939

age dating1941

carbon–14 dating1950

radiocarbon dating1950

carbon dating1952

radiodating1962

radiometric dating1963

TL-dating1972

1950 R. F. Heizer Man. Archaeol. Field Methods (rev. ed.) xx. 66/1 The newly discovered method of Carbon 14 dating.

1968 G. Jones Hist. Vikings Introd. 5 A carbon-14 dating of c. 1000 for some of the artefacts discovered at L'Asne-aux-Meadows in Newfoundland is crucial for the Norse discovery of North America.

1997 T. Mackintosh-Smith Yemen (1999) ii. 45 Carbon-14 dating has given their age as around 2,300 years.

carbon-free adj. (a) containing no carbon, free of carbon; (b) not producing any carbon compounds such as carbon dioxide that might contribute to pollution; not associated with net emission of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

ΚΠ

1890 J. Cagney tr. R. von Jaksch Clin. Diagnosis 105 A carbon-free flame from a spirit- or gas-lamp.

1958 Times Rev. Industry Mar. 47/3 Carbon-free ferro-chrome, one of the basic raw materials of special alloy steels.

1988 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 15 Oct. Nuclear energy, while controversial for other reasons, is also a carbon-free alternative.

2001 Times 2 Jan. 11/1 A carbon-free breakdown service under which the fuel used by the garage attending to a breakdown vehicle would be measured and trees planted to ‘neutralise’ the pollution.

2007 Wall St. Jrnl. 12 Feb. r10/1 Texas universities are pushing hard to develop carbon-free energy.

carbon holder n. a holder for a carbon electrode in an arc lamp.

ΚΠ

1867 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 157 106 Two rods of gas-carbon, half an inch square, were placed in the carbon-holders of the beautiful apparatus for regulating the electric light, recently invented by M. Foucault.

1944 R. H. O'Kane Let. 3 Sept. in U.S.S. Tang (SS-306) Amer. Submarine War Patrol Rep. (2005) 105 The following list of failures for this patrol alone help to illustrate the situation... August 10, 1944. Carbon holder broke. Silver soldered holder and renewed carbons.

carbon lamp n. = carbon light n. (b).With quot. 1879 cf. Jablochkoff n.

ΚΠ

1879 Manufacturer & Builder Aug. 173/1 The electric carbon lamps or candles of Jablochkoff were very defective.

1950 L. E. Hawker Physiol. Fungi vi. 183 Those [sporangiophores] of Pilobolus turn towards a tungsten lamp, which emits a high proportion of blue rays, more readily than to a carbon lamp of twice the total candle-power.

1992 Business Hist. Rev. 66 312 GE's and National's carbon lamps were considerably more expensive than those of some independent manufacturers.

carbon light n. (a) light emitted by a carbon arc or by excited carbon atoms; (b) a carbon-arc light; (also) a lamp with a carbon filament.

ΚΠ

1850 Sci. Amer. 2 Feb. 158/3 The power of the galvanic current in giving the brilliant Electro Carbon light, has been frequently trumpeted before the world.]

1857 Farmer's Mag. 11 453 Little has been said..of this new plan of overcoming the difficulties which carbon light presented.

1863 Edinb. New Philos. Jrnl. 18 335 The carbon light and the photometric apparatus prepared for the purpose were placed in line across the same apartment.

1915 F. I. Anderson Electr. for Farm i. 18 The advantage of tungsten lights is that they give three times as much light for the same expenditure of current as carbon lights.

1973 Nucl. Instruments & Methods 109 416/2 Because of the small amount of the carbon light, they [sc. neutrons] will likely remain undetected.

1997 Times (Nexis) 10 July (Features section) He remained in obscurity for ten years, until he was rescued by the carbon lights of the stage.

carbon microphone n. a microphone depending for its action on the varying electrical resistance of carbon granules when subjected to the varying pressure of sound waves.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > audibility > sound magnification or reproduction > [noun] > microphone

carbon transmitter1878

microphone1878

carbon microphone1879

pantelephone1881

phonoscope1890

mike1911

condenser microphone1921

magnetophone1922

radio microphone1922

ionophone1924

crystal microphone1925

ribbon microphone1925

radio mike1926

laryngophone1927

velocity microphone1931

ribbon mike1933

pressure microphone1934

bug1936

eight ball1937

ribbon1937

throat microphone1937

throat mike1937

rifle microphone1938

parabolic microphone1939

lip microphone1941

intercept1942

spike mike1950

spy-mike1955

spy-microphone1960

mic1961

rifle mike1961

gun microphone1962

spike microphone1962

shotgun microphone1968

Lavallière1972

wire1973

sneaky1974

multi-mikes1990

1879 Telegr. Jrnl. 7 1/1 The carbon microphone..has already proved a practical instrument for sending articulate sounds.

1935 H. C. Bryson Gramophone Rec. iii. 59 Three main kinds of microphone are in common use: the carbon microphone, the condenser microphone, and the moving coil microphone.

2005 Computers & Electr. Engin. 31 168 The sensor is a single button type carbon microphone.

carbon nanotube n. a nanotube composed of carbon atoms.

ΚΠ

1991 www.nec.co.jp 6 Nov. (O.E.D. Archive) NEC Corporation today announced that it has discovered ‘Carbon Nanotubes’—ultrafine tube-shaped graphite crystals that measure on a nanometer scale.

1991 S. Iijima in Nature 7 Nov. 56/1 I report the preparation of a new type of finite carbon structure consisting of needle-like tubes... Microtubules of graphitic carbon.]

1992 P. M. Ajayan & S. Iijima in Nature 2 July 23/1 We have recently reported the discovery of carbon nanotubes.

2002 T. Pratchett et al. Sci. of Discworld II viii. 88 All you need is a material with enough tensile strength, perhaps some composite involving carbon nanotubes.

2007 Gay Times Mar. 81/1 Carbon nanotubes, cylinders 100 times stronger and six times lighter than steel, could lead to taller and stronger buildings.

carbon-neutral adj. (of a process, agency, etc.) making or resulting in zero net emission of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere; claiming to balance any carbon dioxide emission by some form of carbon offset.

ΚΠ

1989 M. Fosberg in Climate Change & Agric.: Joint Hearing Subcomm. Dept. Operations & Subcomm. Forests of Comm. Agric. House of Representatives (1990) (100th Congr., 1st Sess.) 16 If we allow the forest to live its natural life,..we have a carbon-neutral environment; that is the carbon is returned back to the atmosphere through the decay process.

1992 Independent 20 July 18/4 It [sc. the plant miscanthus] is also carbon neutral, extracting as much carbon dioxide during growth as is expelled when it is burnt.

2000 Freight Jan. 14/2 FTA member company Access Freight claims to have become the first ‘carbon neutral’ freight transport company.

2007 Surface Sci. 601 2556/2 Sunlight is by far the most plentiful of all carbon-neutral energy sources.

carbon offset n. a compensation for carbon dioxide emissions resulting from industrial or other human activity (see carbon offsetting n.); a quantifiable amount of such compensation as a tradable commodity.

ΚΠ

1990 F. Lyman et al. Greenhouse Trap iv. 93 In 1989, the first ‘carbon offset’ project was launched with considerable fanfare.

1993 Amer. Econ. Rev. 83 319/1 The modeling teams assumed..no carbon offsets, such as those that might result from tree planting.

1998 Independent 3 Oct. (Mag.) 33/2 Then comes the clever bit, the ‘carbon-offset’..: planting five trees and allowing them to grow to maturity will cancel out a year's worth of emissions from your car.

2007 Daily Tel. 23 May 20/1 Given that you are probably going to fly anyway, is there still a point in buying a carbon offset?

carbon offsetting n. the action or process of compensating for carbon dioxide emissions which result from industrial or other human activity, by participating in schemes designed to effect equivalent reductions of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; cf. carbon offset n.

ΚΠ

1989 M. C. Trexler et al. Forestry as Response to Global Warming Contents p. i, (heading) Verifying the Guatemala Project's Carbon Offsetting Potential.

2006 Daily Tel. 27 Nov. 8/1 It will be the first company to incorporate ‘carbon offsetting’ into its web-based ticket booking system, so that people see the carbon dioxide emissions produced by each flight and the amount needed to offset them.

2015 Guardian (Nexis) 24 Aug. A key carbon offsetting scheme was so open to abuse that three quarters of its allowances lacked environmental integrity.

carbon pencil n. (a) a slender rod of carbon, esp. one used as an electrode; (b) Art a drawing pencil made with lampblack pigment rather than graphite.

ΚΠ

1857 Mechanics' Mag. 12 Dec. 559/2 A variety of apparatuses have from time to time been constructed on the principle of an approximating motion between carbon pencils.

1913 H. Speed Pract. & Sci. Drawing xx. 280 Carbon pencils are similar to Conté, but smoother in working and do not rub.

1936 E. A. Atkins & A. G. Walker Electr. Arc & Oxy-acetylene Welding (ed. 3) xiii. 143 A suitable holder to take the carbon pencil is required.

1994 Times 18 Aug. 17/5 They..made him experiment with charcoal, carbon-pencil, watercolour, chalk, brown ink and tinted paper.

† carbon photograph n. Photography Obsolete = carbon print n.

ΚΠ

1858 Photogr. Notes 1 Nov. 248/2 The following remarks..occur in an article by Mr. Seely, headed, ‘Carbon Photographs,—Photo-Engraving, &c.’

1902 J. Conrad End of Tether ii, in Youth (1903) 172 He had before his eyes the big carbon photographs of his daughter, her husband, and two fat-legged babies—his grandchildren.

1920 Burlington Mag. Sept. 165/2 One exhibitor goes in for imitating in pastel the surface quality of carbon photographs.

carbon print n. Photography (now chiefly historical) a print made by the carbon process.

ΚΠ

1858 Photogr. Notes 15 Dec. 306/2 I wrote a letter..offering to produce before him a Carbon print by my process, and a silver print from the same negative.

1927 S. Lewis Elmer Gantry xvii. 241 His living-room was overpowering with portraits and carbon prints.

1994 Metrop. Mus. Art Bull. 52 17/1 (caption) He arranged for the Alsatian firm of Adolph Braun and Company, to reproduce it as a collotype (or autotype, a carbon print that results from a photomechanical process).

carbon printing n. Photography (now chiefly historical) the printing of photographs by the carbon process.

ΚΠ

1858 Photogr. Notes 1 Oct. 224/1 Carbon printing is now beginning to attract considerable attention on the Continent.

1938 R. Hum Chem. for Engin. Students xxviii. 774 In carbon printing a mixture of gelatine, carbon and dichromate is used.

1999 Jrnl. Amer. Inst. Conservation 38 126/1 Carbon printing, introduced by Alphonse Poitevin in 1855, seemed to possess all the stability requirements.

carbon process n. Photography (now chiefly historical) a printing process in which powdered carbon is used as a permanent pigment; spec. one employing sensitized carbon tissue.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > photography > photographic processes > [noun]

daguerreotype1839

calotype1841

chrysotype1842

chromotype1843

ferrotype1843

tithonotype1843

amphitype1844

energiatype1844

fluorotype1844

Talbotype1844

daguerreotypy1853

ambrotype1854

bitumen process1858

carbon process1858

reversal1859

pyro-photography1869

vitrotype1875

platinotype1877

transferrotype1889

diazotype1890

kallitype1890

Joly process1894

reversal process1908

bromoil1909

bleach-out process1914

carbro1919

Finlay process1931

reversal processing1931

diazo1948

xography1965

push processing1966

1858 Photogr. Notes 15 Dec. 306/1 (heading) The carbon process.

1879 Cassell's Techn. Educator (new ed.) III. 326 The perfecting of a carbon process has been the work of considerable time.

1940 G. H. J. Adlam & L. S. Price Higher School Certificate Inorg. Chem. (ed. 2) xlvii. 495 In the photographic process called the carbon process, dichromated gelatine is mixed with some coloured pigment and coated on to paper.

2004 C. Anderson Legible Bodies v. 154 The carbon process was not adopted across the presidencies; in Madras, photographers were said to be unsure about it.

carbon sequestration n. any process (natural or artificial) by which carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and held in solid or liquid form, e.g. in forests, oceans, or geological strata.

ΚΠ

1989 Biomass 18 76 We can count, for carbon-sequestration purposes, only those fuelwood areas that are planted over and above those areas that are felled for burning.

1999 T. M. Cronin Princ. Paleoclimatol. ii. 26 Eastern Pacific Ocean upwelling..represents a major part of the biological pump and a means of carbon sequestration into the oceans.

2003 U.S. News & World Rep. 10 Feb. 78/1 The Bush administration would invest as much as $90 million in research on burying carbon dioxide. BP and ChevronTexaco are studying the strategy, called carbon sequestration.

carbon sink n. a sink (sink n.¹ 10) for carbon; spec. a part of the biosphere (such as a forest or ocean) that causes carbon dioxide to be removed from the atmosphere.

ΚΠ

1963 Adv. Energy Conversion 3 172 The carbon sink was tantalum as Ta₂C formation was observed.

1975 BioScience 25 680/1 Although forest ecosystems represent a potential carbon sink, their effectiveness is being curtailed by man's reduction of the forest biomass.

1976 Compar. Biochem. & Physiol. B. 55 447/1 Alanine is thought to function as a carbon sink in amino acid metabolism.

2000 U.S. News & World Rep. 3 Jan. 66/1 As the planet's largest carbon sink, the deep sea is a prime spot for large-scale sequestration [of carbon].

2006 New Scientist 8 Apr. 9/2 Under the Kyoto protocol, countries are already allowed to offset their emissions with carbon absorbed by purpose-built ‘carbon sink’ forests.

carbon skeleton n. Chemistry a number of carbon atoms bonded together and forming the basic framework of a molecule.

ΚΠ

1870 J. P. Cooke First Princ. Chem. Philos. xix. 485 The arrangement of the atoms in the carbon skeleton that may be regarded as the nucleus of the group.

1947 Nucleonics Dec. 15/2 The main product of the Willgerodt reaction, phenylacetamide, is formed without rearrangement of the carbon skeleton.

2000 W. Cabri & R. Di Fabio From Bench to Market vii. 151 Grignard addition on to dimethylformamide gave 6-methoxynaphthaldehyde, which, via aldol condensation with acetone, gave the carbon skeleton of the molecule.

carbon star n. Astronomy a cool red giant star whose spectrum shows features due to carbon-based molecules, indicative of a preponderance of carbon relative to oxygen in the star's atmosphere.

ΚΠ

1921 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 99 150 If these arguments are correct, we are not justified in speaking of a star as a Hydrogen, Helium, or Carbon star, thereby suggesting that these elements form the chief ingredients in the chemical composition of the star.

1971 I. G. Gass et al. Understanding Earth ix. 131/1 In the so-called ‘carbon stars’, the carbon : hydrogen ratio is greatly enhanced.

1992 S. P. Maran Astron. & Astrophysics Encycl. 716/2 N stars..display strong molecular bands of C₂, CH, CN, and C₃ in their spectra—they are the ‘classical’ carbon stars.

carbon steel n. steel which consists essentially of iron and carbon, with any other elements present in quantities too small to affect its properties; a steel of this type.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > steel > [noun] > other types of steel

hardened steel1557

shear steel1815

blister-steel1831

mild steel1850

carbon steel1856

Bessemer steel1864

soft centre1865

silicon steel1882

weld-steel1884

rimmed steel1920

1856 Sci. Amer. 26 Apr. 264/1 Carbon steel becomes coarse when tempered in thick masses, from segregation of the particles of carbon.

1905 Nature 18 May 69/1 The polyhedral or ‘austenitic’ type of structure has never been obtained alone in a pure carbon steel.

1969 D. K. Allen Metall. Theory & Pract. vii. 194/2 Most all carbon steels can be quench-hardened but the hardness does not become appreciable until the carbon content..reaches about 0·35 percent.

1997 Pract. Householder Oct. 56/2 Drills may be of carbon steel, ideal for general woodwork, or of high speed steel..for drilling metal.

carbon storage n. (originally) the retention of carbon fixed by a plant or microorganism; (in later use also) = carbon sequestration n.

ΚΠ

1989 S. H. Schneider Global Warming (1990) vi. 178 Spruce, fir, and hardwood forests would be replaced ‘by a stunted pine-oak forest of much lower carbon storage’.

2010 Science 29 Oct. 596/1 Similar modeling strategies have been adopted to investigate carbon storage in complex, inaccessible, and chemically heterogeneous geological media such as saline aquifers and unmineable coal seams.

carbon suboxide n. Chemistry an oxide of carbon having fewer oxygen atoms than carbon atoms in its molecule; spec. a foul-smelling gas, C₃O₂, prepared by dehydrating malonic acid.

ΚΠ

1879 H. Watts Dict. Chem. 3rd Suppl. i. 404 Carbon oxides,—Suboxides. Berthelot has obtained a suboxide of carbon, C⁴O³(?)..by the action of the galvanic current on carbon monoxide.]

1885 E. H. Bartley Text.-bk. Med. Chem. iii. 170 Carbon suboxide is an amorphous extractive matter formed by the action of an electric current upon carbon oxide.

1936 S. Glasstone Recent Adv. Gen. Chem. v. 219 Electron-diffraction measurements of inter-atomic distances have also thrown light on the structure of carbon suboxide, C₃O₂.

1991 Jrnl. Molecular Struct. 232 147 A variety of recently synthesized unexpected carbon suboxides and subsulphides is reviewed.

carbon tax n. a tax intended to discourage the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, esp. one levied on the burning of fossil fuels.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > impost, due, or tax > duty on goods > [noun] > on other commodities

boscage1483

maletent1543

stackage1587

powder tax1775

newspaper stamp duty1815

newspaper stamp1826

timber due1883

carbon tax1979

1979 W. D. Nordhaus Efficient Use Energy Resources viii. 137 In the real world, the policy can take the form either of taxing carbon emissions or of physical controls... In practice, the use of taxes is much simpler... I therefore will concentrate on ‘carbon taxes’ as a way of implementing the global policy on a decentralized, individual level.

1990 New Age Dec. 14/1 70 percent of US citizens now support a carbon tax, which would penalize all energy sources that produce the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

2004 Land Econ. 80 576/1 Even a relatively broad based environmental tax such as a carbon tax is much narrower than is the income tax.

carbon tet n. colloquial = carbon tetrachloride n.

ΚΠ

1926 Charleston (W. Va.) Gaz. 5 Dec. 13/1 (advt.) Dog owners. For those running fits. ‘Carbon tet.’ St. Albans Drug Store.

1979 W. Zander Distances iv. 58 I'm busy gearing up. Sponges! Carbon Tet!

2003 Test & Measurem. World (Nexis) 1 Sept. 52 Suppose you encounter a synthesized chemical (e.g., carbon tetrachloride). You note its uniquely pungent odor (not recommended, as carbon tet is toxic).

carbon tetrachloride n. a colourless, toxic, volatile liquid used as a solvent, esp. for fats and oils.Formula: CCl₄.

ΚΠ

1868 H. B. Jones & H. Watts Fownes's Man. Elem. Chem. (ed. 10) iii. 654 Carbon tetrachloride, CCl₄,..belongs to another series being the chlorine analogous to marsh-gas.

1936 S. Glasstone Recent Adv. Gen. Chem. i. 50 The reaction was stopped by the addition of crushed ice, and the organic iodide extracted by means of carbon tetrachloride.

2001 O. Sacks Uncle Tungsten viii. 89 Chloroform..had the same sort of smell as carbon tetrachloride (sold as the dry-cleaning fluid Thawpit).

carbon tissue n. Photography (now chiefly historical) paper covered with a light-sensitive, pigmented, gelatin layer, used esp. in transferring positive images to photogravure plates.

ΚΠ

1868 M. C. Lea Man. Photogr. (end matter) 14 (advt.) Beyrich & Vogel's carbon tissue, $4 per dozen.

1900 Nature 1 Mar. 416/1 To pigment the image, a piece of carbon tissue is soaked in a weak solution containing acetic acid, hydroquinone, and ferrous sulphate, squeezed on to the print and allowed to dry.

1942 K. Williams Diary 7 Jan. (1993) 2 I made a carbon tissue print.

2000 S. King in J. Barnier Coming into Focus vii. 89 The hand manufacture of carbon tissue described here makes it possible to produce images in any color imaginable.

carbon trading n. the sale and purchase of credits allowing limited carbon emissions, such that companies producing emissions above allocated quotas are required to buy credits from ones whose emissions are below their quotas.

ΚΠ

1992 Energy Policy 20 400/2 In one scenario, carbon trading occurs at the primary level with a stabilization constraint on carbon content at the distribution level.

2001 Big Issue 5 Mar. 14/3 On its own carbon trading will do virtually nothing to solve what is probably the most serious problem we face this century.

2003 D. Elliott Energy, Society & Environment (ed. 2) iii. 63 The various proposals for carbon emission permits and carbon trading arrangements that emerged from the Kyoto climate change accord.

2006 Canberra Times (Nexis) 18 Nov. b4 If Australia..introduced carbon trading it would cut the value of our national income over the next 50 years by a mere 0.16 per cent.

carbon transmitter n. now historical = carbon microphone n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > audibility > sound magnification or reproduction > [noun] > microphone

carbon transmitter1878

microphone1878

carbon microphone1879

pantelephone1881

phonoscope1890

mike1911

condenser microphone1921

magnetophone1922

radio microphone1922

ionophone1924

crystal microphone1925

ribbon microphone1925

radio mike1926

laryngophone1927

velocity microphone1931

ribbon mike1933

pressure microphone1934

bug1936

eight ball1937

ribbon1937

throat microphone1937

throat mike1937

rifle microphone1938

parabolic microphone1939

lip microphone1941

intercept1942

spike mike1950

spy-mike1955

spy-microphone1960

mic1961

rifle mike1961

gun microphone1962

spike microphone1962

shotgun microphone1968

Lavallière1972

wire1973

sneaky1974

multi-mikes1990

1878 Manufacturer & Builder Nov. 245/1 Edison's carbon transmitter.

1944 Sci. Monthly Nov. 333/1 The variable resistance microphone, such as the carbon transmitter, and the electrodynamic and condenser microphones are now joined by the crystal microphone.

1977 Herald-Times-Reporter (Manitowoc-Two Rivers, Wisconsin) 3 June ii. 4/2 Edison..helped Alexander Graham Bell open up the world of telephone communication by introducing the carbon transmitter.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	carbon
释义	carbonn. Brit. /ˈkɑːbən/, U.S. /ˈkɑrbən/ Forms: 1700s– carbon, 1700s–1800s carbone. Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French carbone. Etymology: < French carbone ( L. B. Guyton de Morveau et al. Méthode de nomencl. chim. (1787) 164) < classical Latin carbōn- , carbō piece of charcoal, in post-classical Latin also coal (from 13th cent. in British sources), perhaps ultimately < the same Indo-European base as hearth n.¹ Compare earlier charbon n. 1. a. Chemistry. A non-metallic chemical element, atomic no. 6, which occurs in crystalline form as diamond and graphite, in black, amorphous form as coal, charcoal, and soot, and in combined form in numerous substances, including all living tissues, petroleum and natural gas, and many minerals. Also as a count noun: an atom of this element. Symbol C.Carbon atoms, which have a valency of four, are able to link with each other and with other atoms (esp. hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen) to form chains and rings, and a great variety of carbon compounds (organic compounds) exist. The two familiar carbon allotropes are diamond, which is a hard, transparent, electrically insulating substance and graphite, which is opaque, lubricating, and an electrical conductor. Since the 1980s a large family of other crystalline forms (fullerenes) has been discovered, based on hollow structures consisting of large numbers of carbon atoms.activated, active, pyrolytic, retort carbon, etc.: see the first element. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > chemistry > organic chemistry > carbon > [noun] carbon1788 charcoal1800 the world > matter > chemistry > elements and compounds > metals > specific elements > carbon > [noun] carbon1788 1788 J. St. John tr. L. B. Guyton de Morveau et al. Method Chym. Nomencl. 32 We adopt to it the modified name of carbon, which indicates the pure and essential principle of charcoal. 1801 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 91 197 I believe it contains a little carbone, produced by the decomposition of the alcohol. 1823 W. Henry Elements Exper. Chem. (ed. 9) I. vii. 328 The diamond..was first shown by Guyton to contain carbon. 1856 P. E. Dove Logic Christian Faith vi. iv. 352 Is man's body mere carbon? 1879 Times 31 Dec. 4/6 The permutation of carbon, from its ordinary opaque black condition into..the limpid crystal of diamond. 1899 A. Lachman Spirit of Org. Chem. 72 Claisen..has proposed that if the entering radical becomes attached to a carbon, it be called a C-derivative, if to oxygen, an O-derivative. 1905 Sci. Amer. Suppl. 27 May 24586/1 The resistance medium or ‘resistor’, when solid, usually consists of a core of carbon, coke, or graphite. 1944 W. Morgan in R. Greenhalgh Pract. Builder ix. 314/1 The oxygen from the ore combines with the carbon in the pigs to form carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. 1962 K. Kesey One Flew over Cuckoo's Nest 223 His grin was coated with carbon from years of taking out spark plugs with his teeth. 1972 Science 6 Oct. 54/1 Graphite, rhombohedral graphite, diamond, lonsdaleite and chaoite may be regarded as the first five crystal forms of carbon. 1994 D. Tulchinsky & A. B. Little Maternal–Fetal Endocrinol. (ed. 2) xxii. 432/1 Those compounds with a hydroxyl (OH) group at carbons 17 and 21 and a ketone group (C=O) at carbon 20 (cortisol, cortisone, and 11-deoxycortisol). 2000 A. Bourdain Kitchen Confid. (2001) 69 Some rube who prefers to eat his meat or fish incinerated into a flavorless, leathery hunk of carbon. b. Chemistry. With a numeral, denoting a particular isotope of carbon. (a) carbon-12 n. the common naturally-occurring isotope of carbon, of mass number 12. ΚΠ 1930 Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. 52 4825 It is interesting to note that the predominant isotopes carbon 12 and oxygen 16 are without nuclear spin. 1985 W. A. Fowler in Nucl. Instruments & Methods Physics Res. B. 10–11 330/2 Hoyle came to the laboratory early in 1953 and questioned the staff about his proposed excited state in carbon twelve. 1995 D. Carey & J. I. Kirkland First Frontier v. xl. 376 Excess of carbon-12 in the biomass indicates that fires consumed as much as a quarter of Earth's plants. (b) carbon-13 n. a stable isotope of carbon, mass number 13, which makes up about 1.1 per cent of natural carbon and is used in isotopic labelling and nuclear magnetic resonance studies. ΚΠ 1932 Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. 54 2125 As an example we may consider carbon 13. 1990 Y. Doi Microbial Polyesters ii. 26 Carbon-13 NMR spectroscopy is also useful for the determination of copolymer compositions. 2006 M. Pollan Omnivore's Dilemma i. 22 When a C-4 plant goes scavenging for its four-packs of carbon, it takes in more carbon 13 than ordinary—C-3—plants. (c) carbon-14 n. a long-lived radioactive isotope of carbon, mass number 14, which is the basis of the radiocarbon method of dating of organic materials and is used as a tracer element in biochemistry; cf. radiocarbon n.Carbon-14 has a half-life of 5730 years approx., being transformed by beta decay into nitrogen-14. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > chemistry > organic chemistry > carbon > [noun] > radioactive isotope radiocarbon1936 carbon-141946 1936 Physical Rev. 49 778/1 McMillan has obtained evidence of a radio-active C¹⁴.] 1946 San Francisco Chron. 2 Jan. 4/2 Carbon 14..is not a natural carbon, is radio-active and is produced in conjunction with the cyclotron. 1973 Sci. Amer. Oct. 83/3 They supplied carbon dioxide labeled with carbon 14 to photosynthesizing sugarcane plants. 1996 A. Walker & P. Shipman Wisdom of Bones v. 85 The radioactive decay of carbon 14 to the ordinary carbon 12 happened too quickly to yield a useful date on anything as old as the bones at Olduvai. c. Carbon dioxide or other gaseous carbon compounds released into the atmosphere.Chiefly used with reference to the contribution such gases make to global warming. Cf. Compounds 1d.Earliest in carbon emission n. at Compounds 3. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > chemistry > elements and compounds > metals > specific elements > carbon > [noun] > compounds carbonic acid1788 carburet1788 carbure1789 carbonic acid snow1841 carbidec1865 carbon dioxide1867 champagne gas1871 carbon dioxide snow1897 methanide1924 methide1965 carbon1977 1977 Amer. Econ. Rev. 67 345/1 Table 1 shows the calculated U.S. energy consumption and world carbon emissions along the uncontrolled and controlled paths. 1990 Planet 82 Aug. 50 Fuelwood also releases 1 to 2 gigatonnes of carbon a year into the air. 2001 Star Phoenix (Saskatoon, Sask.) (Nexis) 20 Mar. c3 When we burn non-renewable coal, oil and gas to heat our homes, carbon is released into the atmosphere. 2006 Psychologies (U.K. ed.) July 153/3 Each time you fly, you make a small donation, based on the amount of carbon your flight has emitted, to a sustainable development project that is reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 2. An electrode made of carbon; esp. each of a pair of carbon rods between which an electric arc passes in an arc lamp. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > electric light > [noun] > charcoal pencil carbon1858 the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > electric light > [noun] > charcoal pencil > one of carbon1858 1858 Philos. Trans. 1857 (Royal Soc.) 147 362 In order to preserve the ends of the wires which are fixed into the carbon, from the action of the acid, it is sufficient to impregnate the upper end of the carbons with a little white wax. 1879 G. B. Prescott Speaking Telephone (new ed.) 403 The light..is soon extinguished by the burning or wasting away of the carbons. 1930 J. H. Jeans Universe around Us (ed. 2) v. 254 If another star has the colour of the carbon of an arc-light, we may conclude that its surface is at about the same temperature as the arc. 1957 New Yorker 13 July 21/1 The klieg light..projected a beam, by means of carbons, that emitted a light of high actinic power. 1992 J. Torrington Swing Hammer Swing! x. 94 I trimmed the carbons, squeezing as much light as was possible from the flogged-out rear mirror. 3. A dark, opaque form of diamond; = carbonado n.² ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > gem or precious stone > diamond > [noun] > other types of diamond violastrec1400 lasque1678 black diamond1689 carbonadoa1853 carbonate1860 carbon1869 river stone1873 fish-eye1882 white1895 1869 Eng. Mechanic 20 Aug. 475/1 Those imperfectly crystallised forms of the diamond, called by some carbon diamonds, used for pointing drills, etc., are worth from five to six dollars a carat. 1903 Westm. Gaz. 6 June 9/1 ‘Black diamonds’..technically known as ‘carbons’. 1942 P. Grodzinski Diamond & Gem Stone Industr. Production App. I. 234 Ballas (also named Bort-Ballas), intermediate type between carbons and crystalline diamonds. 2004 B. A. Hofmann in P. Ehrenfreund et al. Astrobiol.: Future Perspectives xiii.322 One of the most enigmatic forms of diamonds is a variety called ‘carbonado’ or ‘carbon’. 4. a. Short for carbon paper n. 1. ΘΚΠ society > communication > printing > duplicating processes > [noun] > carbon paper camp-paper?1790 carbonic paper1808 carbonized paper1850 manifold paper1854 carbon paper1855 carbon1895 1895 E. Collyns Typists' Man. 55 Errors must not be erased while the carbons are in the machine. 1920 R. Macaulay Potterism i. iv. 46 Jane extracted carbons from a drawer and fitted them to her paper. 1978 Times 4 Feb. 11/4 When you get to the end of a page in a hurry, you find you have put the carbons in back to front and have got to start again. 2003 Chicago Sun-Times (Nexis) 18 A policy writer would make the rounds with his ticket book equipped with carbons to take bets from customers who would pick from 78 numbers. b. Short for carbon copy n. ΘΚΠ society > communication > printing > duplicating processes > [noun] > carbon paper > copy made by carbon copy1876 carbon1916 1916 E. W. Sargent Technique Photoplay (ed. 3) 104 Carbons are always to be made of any script in no matter what fashion it may be prepared. 1940 H. Innes Trojan Horse iii. 62 I signed the carbon and placed it in a foolscap envelope. 1982 Times 15 Nov. 6/2 Obtaining card numbers and expiry dates from carbons is one of the latest in an ingenious range of tricks used by cedit [sic] card crooks. 2004 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 13 Nov. b2 They had become stenographers instead of diggers, trading carbons of stories with one another, operating as a rat pack. Compounds C1. attributive. a. (a) Of or relating to the element carbon, as carbon content, carbon deposit, carbon isotope, carbon particle, etc.Some of the more established compounds of this type are treated separately. ΚΠ 1807 J. Barlow Columbiad v. 197 When at his word the carbon clouds shall rise. 1837 Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. 5 392 In one volume of the carburet, there are two of hydrogen and two of carbon vapour. 1876 R. Routledge Discov. & Inventions 19th Cent. 308 Such is..the spectrum which these incandescent carbon particles produce: it resembles the solar spectrum. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 1 Oct. 4/2 Carbon deposits from the piston or combustion-chamber walls. 1950 L. E. Hawker Physiol. Fungi iv. 122 Fumaric acid was produced containing the labelled carbon isotope in the carboxyl group. 1970 Fremdsprachen 14 135 The carbon slurry is drawn off the bottom of the column to one of the dewatering bins. 1990 Old-house Jrnl. Jan. 20/2 The low carbon content of wrought iron makes it very malleable. 2007 Edmonton (Alberta) Jrnl. (Nexis) 13 July j2 Carbon deposits can build up around fuel injectors and carburetors. (b) carbon atom n. ΚΠ 1843 S. L. Metcalfe Caloric II. ii. 517 The immediate union of many oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon atoms. 1932 I. D. Garard Introd. Org. Chem. ii. 20 At average room temperature, those normal paraffin hydrocarbons containing four carbon atoms or less are gaseous. 2005 R. McNeill Alexander Human Bones vi. 153 The first stage of photosynthesis for most trees, shrubs and temperate grasses is the formation of a molecule containing three carbon atoms. carbon compound n. ΚΠ 1855 E. L. Youmans Chem. Atlas vi. 52 Carbon..exists in every organized substance; so that this branch of the science has been defined as the chemistry of carbon compounds. 1907 G. M. Norman Systematic Pract. Org. Chem. ii. 96 The Carius method for estimating halogens in carbon compounds. 1998 L. Margulis & K. V. Schwartz Five Kingdoms (ed. 3) i. 59/1 Halophils abide in a variety of newly discovered hypersaline environments, taking in as food a variety of carbon compounds. b. (a) Made of carbon, spec. (a) (chiefly of electrical equipment) made of compressed charcoal, lampblack, etc., as carbon anode, carbon cylinder, carbon plate, carbon points, carbon resistor, etc.; (b) made of carbon fibre or carbon composite, as carbon mast, carbon pole, etc.Some of the more established compounds of this type are treated separately. ΚΠ 1856 Proc. Royal Soc. 8 236 A decomposing tube in which the gases are generated from carbon poles. 1859 Sci. Amer. 1 Oct. 230/2 The carbon cylinders for the Bunsen batteries are made with powdered hard charcoal. 1875 P. G. Hamerton Intellect. Life (ed. 2) vii. iii. 238 The light that plays between the wedded intelligences as the electric light burns between two carbon points. 1922 T. M. Lowry Inorg. Chem. xviii. 191 Molten silver chloride is electrolysed between a silver cathode and a carbon anode. 1935 C. J. Smith Intermediate Physics (ed. 2) v. xlix. 832 The ends of the coil are joined to two metal rings each touching..a carbon plate. 1953 F. G. Spreadbury Design Electronic Measuring Instruments 34 If carbon resistors must be used they should be of the cracked type and underrated. 1986 Golf Monthly July 15/4 Golfers from Asia..are using carbon drivers. 1990 Angler's Mail 28 July 40/4 (advt.) Browning Pro, competition 11 metre carbon pole. 1998 Yachts & Yachting 21 Aug. 111/2 (advt.) A-class, carbon mast, Kevlar glass epoxy hulls, with launch trolley, cover,..£2,800. 1999 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 96 14222/2 Electrochemically etching the..wires..with a carbon plate counter electrode. 2005 Cycling Plus Apr. 72/2 Carbon forks used to be found on mid-range or better road bikes. (b) carbon brush n. ΚΠ 1879 U.S. Patent 220,248 1/1 The invention consists in the arrangement of carbon..in rods or threads..and secured in bundles..to form a carbon brush to take the place of carbon plates, points, or candles, now used. 1891 Manufacturer & Builder Oct. 219/2 The motor..is fitted with their new self-oiling bearings and carbon brushes. 1947 R. Lee Electronic Transformers & Circuits viii. 214 The moving tap is a carbon brush which slides over exposed turns of a winding. 1992 Pract. Householder Nov. 10/3 The carbon brushes will also need renewing every so often especially if you see excessive sparking. carbon electrode n. ΚΠ 1845 Mechanics' Mag. 4 Jan. 29/2 A speck of intense light can be produced, which will enable one to read small print at a distance of nearly eighteen inches from the carbon electrodes. 1890 Science 2 May 267/1 A pencil-shaped carbon electrode, fixed and immovable, standing vertically in the bottom of the lamp-frame. 1970 R. W. Thomas Iron & Steel iii. 25/1 The heat is provided by three carbon electrodes supplied through a three-phase transformer. 2001 R. W. Cahn Coming of Materials Sci. xi. 447 The first dry battery was the 1868 Leclanché cell, using a carbon electrode in a pasty mixture of MnO₂ and other constituents. carbon filament n. ΚΠ 1880 Times 5 Jan. 9/6 The steadiness, reliability, and non-fusibility of the carbon filament, Mr. Edison tells us, are not the only elements incident to the new discovery. 1922 Gas Manuf., Distribution & Use (Brit. Commerc. Gas Assoc.) ii. 86/1 A carbon filament has an intrinsic brilliancy of about 400 candle-power per square inch. 1993 D. Burrus & R. Gittines Technotrends (1994) App. A. 328 Composites are materials such as ceramics and plastics that have been reinforced with synthetic fibers and carbon filaments. carbon rod n. ΚΠ 1869 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 159 188 In less than half an hour nearly half the thickness of the carbon rod was disintegrated and fell as a loose powder to the bottom of the vessel. 1935 C. J. Smith Intermediate Physics (ed. 2) v. xlviii. 805 The arc lamp consists essentially of two carbon rods, generally at right angles to one another. 1990 Compl. Angler's Guide Spring 8/3 Many..are now switching to more modern carbon rods. c. Chemistry. In names of compounds of carbon, as carbon dichloride, carbon nitride, carbon oxysulphide, carbon tetrabromide, etc.Recorded earliest in carbon dioxide n. ΚΠ 1867 Proc. Royal Soc. 16 222 Vanadium pentoxide fused with sodium carbonate displaces three molecules of carbon dioxide. 1875 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. 28 746 The distillate which comes over slowly consists of perchlorethylene holding in solution aniline and carbon sesquichloride. 1879 Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. 1 175 He thus removes carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, cyanogen, carbon disulphide, carbon oxysulphide. 1899 Lancet 1 July 7/2 A more logical comparison would be that of carbon tetrachloride and carbon dichloride (C₂Cl₄) or carbon trichloride (C₂Cl₆). 1940 G. H. J. Adlam & L. S. Price Higher School Certificate Inorg. Chem. (ed. 2) xxxvi. 312 Carbon tetrabromide, CBr₄, is made by the action of bromine on carbon disulphide in the presence of iodine as a ‘carrier’ or catalyst. 1993 K. S. Robinson Green Mars (new ed.) 190 Factories to produce and release into the atmosphere a special greenhouse gas mix, composed mostly of carbon tetrafluoride, hexafluoroethane, and sulphur hexafluoride. 2006 Nanotechnology 17 5798 Carbon nitride nanostructures have been created using the novel technique of liquid phase pulsed laser ablation of a graphite target. d. Originally: of or relating to carbon metabolism in organisms, and the cycling of carbon compounds in natural ecosystems, to which the photosynthetic fixation of carbon dioxide is central; (in later use also) of or relating to carbon compounds in the atmosphere as associated with climate change (cf. sense 1c); as carbon assimilation, carbon budget, carbon economy, carbon source, carbon storage, etc.ⓘ ΚΠ 1890 Polit. Sci. Q. 5 566 Man, the carbon-source, and the cabbage, the oxygen producer, typify two poles of an economic order. 1916 Sci. Monthly Sept. 294 With the simplest bacteria which live directly on the lifeless world we find that most of the fundamental chemical energies of the living world are already established, namely..the protein and carbon storage, the primary food supply of the living world. a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) II. 1204 The discovery of the process of carbon assimilation (also called photosynthesis)..is an interesting chapter in the history of science. 1957 Bot. Gaz. 121 31/1 A consideration of the carbon economy for the highly efficient utilization of CO₂ by these plants. 1967 Water Res. 1 147 The carbon budget concept: a quantitative measure of trophic state. 1989 S. H. Schneider Global Warming (1990) vi. 178 Spruce, fir, and hardwood forests would be replaced ‘by a stunted pine-oak forest of much lower carbon storage’. 1993 N.Y. Times 8 June c4/1 For years, scientists concerned about the environmental effects of burning fossil fuels have tried to balance the global carbon budget. 2002 Kew Winter 4/1 The invasive trees and shrubs that are encroaching onto many areas of natural grassland were thought to be a particularly important carbon sink, helping to balance the nation's ‘carbon budget’. 2002 BusinessWeek 4 Nov. 12/4 Energy and environment broker Natsource is building a carbon ‘bank’. Companies would deposit emissions cuts and get credit for them under various trading plans. C2. Parasynthetic and objective. carbon-based adj. ΚΠ 1956 V. E. Yarsley & E. G. Couzens Plastics in Service of Man 104 Silicones may..be thought of as half-way between carbon-based plastics and silicon-based rocks. 1993 USA Weekend 24 Jan. 20/1 Propose an $80-per-ton fee on carbon-based fuels to help stabilize emissions of greenhouse gases. 2002 J. Cohen & I. Stewart Evolving Alien iv. 65 Naive astrobiologists take a rigid line and act as if the only possible kind of life is carbon-based with DNA heredity. carbon-containing adj. ΚΠ 1843 Brit. & Foreign Med. Rev. 15 496 What would he say, to extending his theory of those carbon-containing substances a little farther? 1928 A. B. Callow Food & Health 11 Proteins, carbohydrates, and fats are all carbon-containing (organic) compounds, capable of being used by the body as fuel. 1999 S. Pal Arya Air Pollution, Meteorol. & Dispersion i. 12 Carbon-containing material including soot, condensed organic matter, and certain toxic compounds. C3. carbon arc n. an electric arc struck between electrodes made of carbon, used esp. as an intense source of light; frequently attributive. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > electric light > [noun] > charcoal pencil > bridge between poles arc1821 carbon arc1879 1879 Fort Wayne (Indiana) Sentinel 2 May Governing the amount of current passing in a carbon arc lamp. 1880 Scribner's Monthly Feb. 534/2 Mr. Edison..soon discarded the carbon arc. 1927 Lancet 1 Jan. 15 The therapeutical use of the carbon-arc light. 1957 Welding, Brazing & Soldering of Wiggin Nickel Alloys (H. Wiggin & Co. Ltd.) 38 Appropriate electrodes and holders..are available from the usual suppliers of carbon-arc welding equipment. 1997 Icon Thoughtstyle Mag. Apr. 123/3 With carbon arcs, there's a certain color shift in the flashes; they sort of warm up and cool off. carbon bisulphide n. = carbon disulphide n. ΚΠ 1868 H. B. Jones & H. Watts Fownes's Man. Elem. Chem. (ed. 10) ii. 218 Carbon disulphide or bisulphide. 1936 Amer. Home Feb. 40/1 Ants: Make small holes in infected area... Into each hole put 1 tablespoonful carbon bi-sulphide and cover immediately with soil. 1998 Chattanooga (Tennessee) Times (Nexis) 21 May b1 A Norfolk Southern railcar ruptured and spilled 10,000 gallons of carbon bisulfide into a nearby pond. carbon bronze n. a kind of bronze containing a small proportion of carbon. ΚΠ 1876 Iron Age 4 May 24/5 Within the last three or four years several new alloys have been discovered and named, such as steel bronze..and now carbon bronze. 1952 Automobile Engineer 42 379/3 Operation [of a clutch] is by means of a carbon bronze thrust ring. 1998 Metal Finishing Nov. 82/3 Large, spring-loaded carbon-bronze contact shoes. carbon budget n. (a) (a record of) the inputs, outputs, and retention of carbon by an organism or ecosystem, forming part of the carbon cycle; (b) the maximum amount of carbon (typically expressed in terms of the equivalent in tons of carbon dioxide) that can be released into the atmosphere over a given period as a result of human activity without causing harmful changes to the climate.In sense (b), such upper limits may be agreed nationally or internationally. ΚΠ 1950 Ecology 31 107/2 The sizes of populations which will be supported in a marine inshore area are dependent upon the quantities of organic detritus which may serve as food, either directly or by contributing to the total carbon budget. 1989 Independent (Nexis) 5 Aug. 36 Moves are afoot..to call an international conference in 1992 on carbon dioxide emissions and global warming similar to the recent meeting at Montreal on the ozone layer. That could result in each country being allocated a 'carbon budget'. 1997 Ecol. Applic. 7 461/1 In recent years, there has been considerable interest in evaluating the carbon budget of forest ecosystems, due to their important role as carbon sources and sinks. 2019 R. Chris in T. M. Letcher Managing Global Warming ii. 61 There is no combination of plausible policies that would avoid breaching the 1.5°C carbon budget. carbon capture n. (originally) the fixation of carbon dioxide by a plant or microorganism; (in later use also) the trapping and storage of carbon dioxide produced by power plants or industrial facilities, in order to prevent it from reaching the atmosphere and contributing to global warming; = carbon capture and storage n. ΚΠ 1971 C. S. Decker Accelerated Recovery Acid Strip-mine Lakes (MS thesis, Univ. of Missouri) 81 in Water Pollution Control Legislation Pt. 8: Hearings before U.S. Senate Comm. Public Wks. (92nd Congr., 1st Sess.) 4286 Algal utilization of respiratory carbon dioxide provided an important means of carbon capture for reuse as a sulfate reducing bacteria energy source to continue recovery or absorb additional acid inflow. 1995 Proc. 30th Intersociety Energy Conv. Eng. Conf. III. 81 Carbon capture from power stations. 2009 Review (Rio Tinto) Sept. 26/2 As well as creating one of the first commercially robust power generation plants in the world with carbon capture facilities, the project would also be the first in the Middle East using CO₂ injection for enhanced oil recovery. carbon capture and storage n. the trapping and storage of carbon dioxide produced by power plants or industrial facilities, in order to prevent it from reaching the atmosphere and contributing to global warming; abbreviated CCS. ΚΠ 1988 Canad. Press (Nexis) 15 Dec. We need to develop and deploy carbon capture and storage technology as a national priority. 2021 J. Phillips & L. Fischer Between Hope & Hype: Hydrogen Vision for UK (E3G) 21 Unprecedented progress would be needed on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) within the next decade if it is to play any meaningful role in the transition period. carbon chain n. a number of carbon atoms bonded together in a sequence and forming part of a molecule, polymer, etc. ΚΠ 1871 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. 24 340 The consequence of the accumulation of oxygen is the fracture of the carbon chain. 1946 A. Nelson Princ. Agric. Bot. i. 11 This molecule is so constructed that it is basic at one end of a carbon chain and acid at the other. 2001 J. H. Holloway in R. Catlow & S. Greenfield Cosmic Rays 89 Because the carbon chain of Teflon is surrounded by small non-polarizable fluorine atoms, the surface tends to ‘repel’ other materials and to be slippery. carbon composite n. any of various artificial composite materials containing carbon fibre as a reinforcing component; cf. composite n. 2b. ΚΠ 1965 Chem. & Engin. News 12 Apr. 31/1 A three-year, $25 million program on carbon composite materials. 1996 New Scientist 23 Mar. 34/3 Carbon composites are built up from layers of carbon fibres laid down at right angles to each other, like the grain in successive sheets of plywood. 2005 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 22 Aug. 9/2 Instead of aluminium, much of the twin-engined, twin-aisle plane will be built with carbon composite. carbon credit n. a tradable permit which allows a country, company, etc., to produce a certain amount of carbon emissions; usually in plural. ΚΠ 1990 Toronto Star 26 Apr. a27 Economists and some politicians are talking of carbon taxes and carbon credits. 2001 E. Losos in R. A. Fimbel et al. Cutting Edge xxvii. 631 The recent sale of national carbon credits from Costa Rica to the government of Norway for $10/ton C—totaling $2,000,000. 2006 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 28 Dec. c4/2 225 companies that have made promises to reduce greenhouse gases..are trading carbon credits on the Chicago Climate Exchange. carbon debt n. the imbalance between global carbon emissions (or the disproportionate relative contribution to these of a particular country, group, individual, etc.) and the carbon dioxide absorption capacity of the world's oceans, vegetation, and soil (including any intentional carbon offsetting). ΚΠ 1991 M. P. Narayanan in R. K. Pachauri et al. Energy-Environment-Devel. I. vi. 60 The industrialised countries have built up a massive carbon debt vis-a-vis developing countries like India. 2000 N. Moss Managing Planet iii. 68 These debts are dwarfed by the huge and rising carbon debt owed by the rich countries to the global community. 2011 Geelong Advertiser (Nexis) 6 Apr. 22 Burning biomass releases carbon dioxide instantly, while repaying that carbon debt through new tree growth takes years. carbon disulphide n. a colourless, toxic, flammable liquid, used as a solvent esp. for rubber and sulphur.Formula: CS₂. ΚΠ 1868 H. B. Jones & H. Watts Fownes's Man. Elem. Chem. (ed. 10) ii. 218 Carbon disulphide or bisulphide. 1955 K. Hutton & A. Swallow Chem. for Gen. Sci. xiv. 208 The [wood] pulp is boiled up with caustic soda and carbon disulphide and turns into a golden, syrupy liquid called viscose. 2004 Environmental Health Perspectives 112 A756/3 Breathing low concentrations of carbon disulfide..can cause headache, tiredness, and nerve damage. carbon emission n. emission of carbon, esp. into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide as a contributor to global warming. ΚΠ 1921 Gas Jrnl. 23 Nov. 546/1 Some gas administrators in Scotland stuck tenaciously to their 18 and up to even 22 candle gas, with all its incomplete combustion and carbon emission. 1968 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 307 151 The combustion of carbon particles can be quite important for the final carbon emission of combustion chambers, engines, etc. 1977 Amer. Econ. Rev. 67 345/1 Table 1 shows the calculated U.S. energy consumption and world carbon emissions along the uncontrolled and controlled paths. 1990 Sci. Amer. Sept. 123/1 Many politicians believe it is politically impossible to impose a tax high enough to drive down carbon emissions. 2003 S. J. Segal Under Banyan Tree i. 7 With less than 5% of the world's population, the United States is responsible for 23% of the world's carbon emission. carbon fixation n. the capture and incorporation of carbon from atmospheric carbon dioxide into organic compounds in the metabolic processes of living organisms, esp. through photosynthesis by green plants. ΚΠ 1863 St. James's Mag. 8 303 The sun may be said..to be the ultimate cause of carbon fixation. 1917 J. W. Harshberger Mycol. & Plant Pathol. iii. 27 In the process of photosynthesis, or carbon fixation, by green plants..free oxygen is formed. 1993 R. L. Zimdahl Fund. Weed Sci. viii. 150 The C_three cycle for carbon fixation is the dominant mechanism in plants. 2000 Nature 26 Oct. 959/3 According to their data, C₄ carbon fixation may be confined to the cytoplasm, spatially segregated from the Rubisco process, which occurs in the chloroplasts. carbon footprint n. the environmental impact of a particular individual, community, or organization, or of a specific event, product, etc., measured in terms of the total associated greenhouse gas emissions, and typically expressed in terms of the (annual) equivalent in tons of carbon dioxide; cf. footprint n. 8. ΚΠ 1999 BBC Vegetarian Good Food Apr. 86/2 To cancel out the damage we do, Morrell believes we should plant trees, and that in doing so an individual or organisation can erase their carbon ‘footprint’. 2006 Hamilton (Ont.) Spectator (Nexis) 10 June d16 Somebody who wants to reduce his ‘carbon footprint’ can bicycle to work. 2011 True Loaf (Real Bread Campaign) No. 6. 10/1 Grain shipped to the UK from Australia will have a lower carbon footprint than if this same quantity of grain had been transported the same distance overland in a fleet of lorries. carbon–14 date n. = carbon date n. ΘΚΠ the world > time > reckoning of time > chronology > [noun] > assignment to a time or dating > dating methods > date ascertained by age dating1941 carbon date1950 radiocarbon date1950 carbon–14 date1951 1951 Biblical Archaeol. 14 28 Dr Libby's results show them to be about 2,000 years old, which is consistent with other carbon-14 dates obtained from Peruvian samples. 2005 Physics Educ. 40 67/1 We would wish to see some historical evidence that the Shroud existed before the carbon-14 date. carbon–14 date v. = carbon-date v. ΘΚΠ the world > time > reckoning of time > chronology > arrange chronologically [verb (transitive)] > use methods of dating carbon-date1953 radiocarbon-date1956 carbon–14 date1957 age-date1967 1957 S. Afr. Archaeol. Bull. 12 25 This deposit was carbon-14 dated as being 6310 ±250 years old. 2003 Sacramento (Calif.) Bee (Nexis) 12 Sept. b 2 The wood was carbon-14 dated to 1410 and tentatively identified as a species unknown in North America. carbon–14 dating n. = carbon dating n. ΘΚΠ the world > time > reckoning of time > chronology > [noun] > assignment to a time or dating > dating methods fluorine test1895 cross-dating1939 age dating1941 carbon–14 dating1950 radiocarbon dating1950 carbon dating1952 radiodating1962 radiometric dating1963 TL-dating1972 1950 R. F. Heizer Man. Archaeol. Field Methods (rev. ed.) xx. 66/1 The newly discovered method of Carbon 14 dating. 1968 G. Jones Hist. Vikings Introd. 5 A carbon-14 dating of c. 1000 for some of the artefacts discovered at L'Asne-aux-Meadows in Newfoundland is crucial for the Norse discovery of North America. 1997 T. Mackintosh-Smith Yemen (1999) ii. 45 Carbon-14 dating has given their age as around 2,300 years. carbon-free adj. (a) containing no carbon, free of carbon; (b) not producing any carbon compounds such as carbon dioxide that might contribute to pollution; not associated with net emission of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. ΚΠ 1890 J. Cagney tr. R. von Jaksch Clin. Diagnosis 105 A carbon-free flame from a spirit- or gas-lamp. 1958 Times Rev. Industry Mar. 47/3 Carbon-free ferro-chrome, one of the basic raw materials of special alloy steels. 1988 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 15 Oct. Nuclear energy, while controversial for other reasons, is also a carbon-free alternative. 2001 Times 2 Jan. 11/1 A carbon-free breakdown service under which the fuel used by the garage attending to a breakdown vehicle would be measured and trees planted to ‘neutralise’ the pollution. 2007 Wall St. Jrnl. 12 Feb. r10/1 Texas universities are pushing hard to develop carbon-free energy. carbon holder n. a holder for a carbon electrode in an arc lamp. ΚΠ 1867 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 157 106 Two rods of gas-carbon, half an inch square, were placed in the carbon-holders of the beautiful apparatus for regulating the electric light, recently invented by M. Foucault. 1944 R. H. O'Kane Let. 3 Sept. in U.S.S. Tang (SS-306) Amer. Submarine War Patrol Rep. (2005) 105 The following list of failures for this patrol alone help to illustrate the situation... August 10, 1944. Carbon holder broke. Silver soldered holder and renewed carbons. carbon lamp n. = carbon light n. (b).With quot. 1879 cf. Jablochkoff n. ΚΠ 1879 Manufacturer & Builder Aug. 173/1 The electric carbon lamps or candles of Jablochkoff were very defective. 1950 L. E. Hawker Physiol. Fungi vi. 183 Those [sporangiophores] of Pilobolus turn towards a tungsten lamp, which emits a high proportion of blue rays, more readily than to a carbon lamp of twice the total candle-power. 1992 Business Hist. Rev. 66 312 GE's and National's carbon lamps were considerably more expensive than those of some independent manufacturers. carbon light n. (a) light emitted by a carbon arc or by excited carbon atoms; (b) a carbon-arc light; (also) a lamp with a carbon filament. ΚΠ 1850 Sci. Amer. 2 Feb. 158/3 The power of the galvanic current in giving the brilliant Electro Carbon light, has been frequently trumpeted before the world.] 1857 Farmer's Mag. 11 453 Little has been said..of this new plan of overcoming the difficulties which carbon light presented. 1863 Edinb. New Philos. Jrnl. 18 335 The carbon light and the photometric apparatus prepared for the purpose were placed in line across the same apartment. 1915 F. I. Anderson Electr. for Farm i. 18 The advantage of tungsten lights is that they give three times as much light for the same expenditure of current as carbon lights. 1973 Nucl. Instruments & Methods 109 416/2 Because of the small amount of the carbon light, they [sc. neutrons] will likely remain undetected. 1997 Times (Nexis) 10 July (Features section) He remained in obscurity for ten years, until he was rescued by the carbon lights of the stage. carbon microphone n. a microphone depending for its action on the varying electrical resistance of carbon granules when subjected to the varying pressure of sound waves. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > audibility > sound magnification or reproduction > [noun] > microphone carbon transmitter1878 microphone1878 carbon microphone1879 pantelephone1881 phonoscope1890 mike1911 condenser microphone1921 magnetophone1922 radio microphone1922 ionophone1924 crystal microphone1925 ribbon microphone1925 radio mike1926 laryngophone1927 velocity microphone1931 ribbon mike1933 pressure microphone1934 bug1936 eight ball1937 ribbon1937 throat microphone1937 throat mike1937 rifle microphone1938 parabolic microphone1939 lip microphone1941 intercept1942 spike mike1950 spy-mike1955 spy-microphone1960 mic1961 rifle mike1961 gun microphone1962 spike microphone1962 shotgun microphone1968 Lavallière1972 wire1973 sneaky1974 multi-mikes1990 1879 Telegr. Jrnl. 7 1/1 The carbon microphone..has already proved a practical instrument for sending articulate sounds. 1935 H. C. Bryson Gramophone Rec. iii. 59 Three main kinds of microphone are in common use: the carbon microphone, the condenser microphone, and the moving coil microphone. 2005 Computers & Electr. Engin. 31 168 The sensor is a single button type carbon microphone. carbon nanotube n. a nanotube composed of carbon atoms. ΚΠ 1991 www.nec.co.jp 6 Nov. (O.E.D. Archive) NEC Corporation today announced that it has discovered ‘Carbon Nanotubes’—ultrafine tube-shaped graphite crystals that measure on a nanometer scale. 1991 S. Iijima in Nature 7 Nov. 56/1 I report the preparation of a new type of finite carbon structure consisting of needle-like tubes... Microtubules of graphitic carbon.] 1992 P. M. Ajayan & S. Iijima in Nature 2 July 23/1 We have recently reported the discovery of carbon nanotubes. 2002 T. Pratchett et al. Sci. of Discworld II viii. 88 All you need is a material with enough tensile strength, perhaps some composite involving carbon nanotubes. 2007 Gay Times Mar. 81/1 Carbon nanotubes, cylinders 100 times stronger and six times lighter than steel, could lead to taller and stronger buildings. carbon-neutral adj. (of a process, agency, etc.) making or resulting in zero net emission of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere; claiming to balance any carbon dioxide emission by some form of carbon offset. ΚΠ 1989 M. Fosberg in Climate Change & Agric.: Joint Hearing Subcomm. Dept. Operations & Subcomm. Forests of Comm. Agric. House of Representatives (1990) (100th Congr., 1st Sess.) 16 If we allow the forest to live its natural life,..we have a carbon-neutral environment; that is the carbon is returned back to the atmosphere through the decay process. 1992 Independent 20 July 18/4 It [sc. the plant miscanthus] is also carbon neutral, extracting as much carbon dioxide during growth as is expelled when it is burnt. 2000 Freight Jan. 14/2 FTA member company Access Freight claims to have become the first ‘carbon neutral’ freight transport company. 2007 Surface Sci. 601 2556/2 Sunlight is by far the most plentiful of all carbon-neutral energy sources. carbon offset n. a compensation for carbon dioxide emissions resulting from industrial or other human activity (see carbon offsetting n.); a quantifiable amount of such compensation as a tradable commodity. ΚΠ 1990 F. Lyman et al. Greenhouse Trap iv. 93 In 1989, the first ‘carbon offset’ project was launched with considerable fanfare. 1993 Amer. Econ. Rev. 83 319/1 The modeling teams assumed..no carbon offsets, such as those that might result from tree planting. 1998 Independent 3 Oct. (Mag.) 33/2 Then comes the clever bit, the ‘carbon-offset’..: planting five trees and allowing them to grow to maturity will cancel out a year's worth of emissions from your car. 2007 Daily Tel. 23 May 20/1 Given that you are probably going to fly anyway, is there still a point in buying a carbon offset? carbon offsetting n. the action or process of compensating for carbon dioxide emissions which result from industrial or other human activity, by participating in schemes designed to effect equivalent reductions of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; cf. carbon offset n. ΚΠ 1989 M. C. Trexler et al. Forestry as Response to Global Warming Contents p. i, (heading) Verifying the Guatemala Project's Carbon Offsetting Potential. 2006 Daily Tel. 27 Nov. 8/1 It will be the first company to incorporate ‘carbon offsetting’ into its web-based ticket booking system, so that people see the carbon dioxide emissions produced by each flight and the amount needed to offset them. 2015 Guardian (Nexis) 24 Aug. A key carbon offsetting scheme was so open to abuse that three quarters of its allowances lacked environmental integrity. carbon pencil n. (a) a slender rod of carbon, esp. one used as an electrode; (b) Art a drawing pencil made with lampblack pigment rather than graphite. ΚΠ 1857 Mechanics' Mag. 12 Dec. 559/2 A variety of apparatuses have from time to time been constructed on the principle of an approximating motion between carbon pencils. 1913 H. Speed Pract. & Sci. Drawing xx. 280 Carbon pencils are similar to Conté, but smoother in working and do not rub. 1936 E. A. Atkins & A. G. Walker Electr. Arc & Oxy-acetylene Welding (ed. 3) xiii. 143 A suitable holder to take the carbon pencil is required. 1994 Times 18 Aug. 17/5 They..made him experiment with charcoal, carbon-pencil, watercolour, chalk, brown ink and tinted paper. † carbon photograph n. Photography Obsolete = carbon print n. ΚΠ 1858 Photogr. Notes 1 Nov. 248/2 The following remarks..occur in an article by Mr. Seely, headed, ‘Carbon Photographs,—Photo-Engraving, &c.’ 1902 J. Conrad End of Tether ii, in Youth (1903) 172 He had before his eyes the big carbon photographs of his daughter, her husband, and two fat-legged babies—his grandchildren. 1920 Burlington Mag. Sept. 165/2 One exhibitor goes in for imitating in pastel the surface quality of carbon photographs. carbon print n. Photography (now chiefly historical) a print made by the carbon process. ΚΠ 1858 Photogr. Notes 15 Dec. 306/2 I wrote a letter..offering to produce before him a Carbon print by my process, and a silver print from the same negative. 1927 S. Lewis Elmer Gantry xvii. 241 His living-room was overpowering with portraits and carbon prints. 1994 Metrop. Mus. Art Bull. 52 17/1 (caption) He arranged for the Alsatian firm of Adolph Braun and Company, to reproduce it as a collotype (or autotype, a carbon print that results from a photomechanical process). carbon printing n. Photography (now chiefly historical) the printing of photographs by the carbon process. ΚΠ 1858 Photogr. Notes 1 Oct. 224/1 Carbon printing is now beginning to attract considerable attention on the Continent. 1938 R. Hum Chem. for Engin. Students xxviii. 774 In carbon printing a mixture of gelatine, carbon and dichromate is used. 1999 Jrnl. Amer. Inst. Conservation 38 126/1 Carbon printing, introduced by Alphonse Poitevin in 1855, seemed to possess all the stability requirements. carbon process n. Photography (now chiefly historical) a printing process in which powdered carbon is used as a permanent pigment; spec. one employing sensitized carbon tissue. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > photography > photographic processes > [noun] daguerreotype1839 calotype1841 chrysotype1842 chromotype1843 ferrotype1843 tithonotype1843 amphitype1844 energiatype1844 fluorotype1844 Talbotype1844 daguerreotypy1853 ambrotype1854 bitumen process1858 carbon process1858 reversal1859 pyro-photography1869 vitrotype1875 platinotype1877 transferrotype1889 diazotype1890 kallitype1890 Joly process1894 reversal process1908 bromoil1909 bleach-out process1914 carbro1919 Finlay process1931 reversal processing1931 diazo1948 xography1965 push processing1966 1858 Photogr. Notes 15 Dec. 306/1 (heading) The carbon process. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educator (new ed.) III. 326 The perfecting of a carbon process has been the work of considerable time. 1940 G. H. J. Adlam & L. S. Price Higher School Certificate Inorg. Chem. (ed. 2) xlvii. 495 In the photographic process called the carbon process, dichromated gelatine is mixed with some coloured pigment and coated on to paper. 2004 C. Anderson Legible Bodies v. 154 The carbon process was not adopted across the presidencies; in Madras, photographers were said to be unsure about it. carbon sequestration n. any process (natural or artificial) by which carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and held in solid or liquid form, e.g. in forests, oceans, or geological strata. ΚΠ 1989 Biomass 18 76 We can count, for carbon-sequestration purposes, only those fuelwood areas that are planted over and above those areas that are felled for burning. 1999 T. M. Cronin Princ. Paleoclimatol. ii. 26 Eastern Pacific Ocean upwelling..represents a major part of the biological pump and a means of carbon sequestration into the oceans. 2003 U.S. News & World Rep. 10 Feb. 78/1 The Bush administration would invest as much as $90 million in research on burying carbon dioxide. BP and ChevronTexaco are studying the strategy, called carbon sequestration. carbon sink n. a sink (sink n.¹ 10) for carbon; spec. a part of the biosphere (such as a forest or ocean) that causes carbon dioxide to be removed from the atmosphere. ΚΠ 1963 Adv. Energy Conversion 3 172 The carbon sink was tantalum as Ta₂C formation was observed. 1975 BioScience 25 680/1 Although forest ecosystems represent a potential carbon sink, their effectiveness is being curtailed by man's reduction of the forest biomass. 1976 Compar. Biochem. & Physiol. B. 55 447/1 Alanine is thought to function as a carbon sink in amino acid metabolism. 2000 U.S. News & World Rep. 3 Jan. 66/1 As the planet's largest carbon sink, the deep sea is a prime spot for large-scale sequestration [of carbon]. 2006 New Scientist 8 Apr. 9/2 Under the Kyoto protocol, countries are already allowed to offset their emissions with carbon absorbed by purpose-built ‘carbon sink’ forests. carbon skeleton n. Chemistry a number of carbon atoms bonded together and forming the basic framework of a molecule. ΚΠ 1870 J. P. Cooke First Princ. Chem. Philos. xix. 485 The arrangement of the atoms in the carbon skeleton that may be regarded as the nucleus of the group. 1947 Nucleonics Dec. 15/2 The main product of the Willgerodt reaction, phenylacetamide, is formed without rearrangement of the carbon skeleton. 2000 W. Cabri & R. Di Fabio From Bench to Market vii. 151 Grignard addition on to dimethylformamide gave 6-methoxynaphthaldehyde, which, via aldol condensation with acetone, gave the carbon skeleton of the molecule. carbon star n. Astronomy a cool red giant star whose spectrum shows features due to carbon-based molecules, indicative of a preponderance of carbon relative to oxygen in the star's atmosphere. ΚΠ 1921 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 99 150 If these arguments are correct, we are not justified in speaking of a star as a Hydrogen, Helium, or Carbon star, thereby suggesting that these elements form the chief ingredients in the chemical composition of the star. 1971 I. G. Gass et al. Understanding Earth ix. 131/1 In the so-called ‘carbon stars’, the carbon : hydrogen ratio is greatly enhanced. 1992 S. P. Maran Astron. & Astrophysics Encycl. 716/2 N stars..display strong molecular bands of C₂, CH, CN, and C₃ in their spectra—they are the ‘classical’ carbon stars. carbon steel n. steel which consists essentially of iron and carbon, with any other elements present in quantities too small to affect its properties; a steel of this type. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > steel > [noun] > other types of steel hardened steel1557 shear steel1815 blister-steel1831 mild steel1850 carbon steel1856 Bessemer steel1864 soft centre1865 silicon steel1882 weld-steel1884 rimmed steel1920 1856 Sci. Amer. 26 Apr. 264/1 Carbon steel becomes coarse when tempered in thick masses, from segregation of the particles of carbon. 1905 Nature 18 May 69/1 The polyhedral or ‘austenitic’ type of structure has never been obtained alone in a pure carbon steel. 1969 D. K. Allen Metall. Theory & Pract. vii. 194/2 Most all carbon steels can be quench-hardened but the hardness does not become appreciable until the carbon content..reaches about 0·35 percent. 1997 Pract. Householder Oct. 56/2 Drills may be of carbon steel, ideal for general woodwork, or of high speed steel..for drilling metal. carbon storage n. (originally) the retention of carbon fixed by a plant or microorganism; (in later use also) = carbon sequestration n. ΚΠ 1916 Sci. Monthly Sept. 294 With the simplest bacteria which live directly on the lifeless world we find that most of the fundamental chemical energies of the living world are already established, namely..the protein and carbon storage, the primary food supply of the living world. 1989 S. H. Schneider Global Warming (1990) vi. 178 Spruce, fir, and hardwood forests would be replaced ‘by a stunted pine-oak forest of much lower carbon storage’. 2010 Science 29 Oct. 596/1 Similar modeling strategies have been adopted to investigate carbon storage in complex, inaccessible, and chemically heterogeneous geological media such as saline aquifers and unmineable coal seams. carbon suboxide n. Chemistry an oxide of carbon having fewer oxygen atoms than carbon atoms in its molecule; spec. a foul-smelling gas, C₃O₂, prepared by dehydrating malonic acid. ΚΠ 1879 H. Watts Dict. Chem. 3rd Suppl. i. 404 Carbon oxides,—Suboxides. Berthelot has obtained a suboxide of carbon, C⁴O³(?)..by the action of the galvanic current on carbon monoxide.] 1885 E. H. Bartley Text.-bk. Med. Chem. iii. 170 Carbon suboxide is an amorphous extractive matter formed by the action of an electric current upon carbon oxide. 1936 S. Glasstone Recent Adv. Gen. Chem. v. 219 Electron-diffraction measurements of inter-atomic distances have also thrown light on the structure of carbon suboxide, C₃O₂. 1991 Jrnl. Molecular Struct. 232 147 A variety of recently synthesized unexpected carbon suboxides and subsulphides is reviewed. carbon tax n. a tax intended to discourage the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, esp. one levied on the burning of fossil fuels. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > impost, due, or tax > duty on goods > [noun] > on other commodities boscage1483 maletent1543 stackage1587 powder tax1775 newspaper stamp duty1815 newspaper stamp1826 timber due1883 carbon tax1979 1979 W. D. Nordhaus Efficient Use Energy Resources viii. 137 In the real world, the policy can take the form either of taxing carbon emissions or of physical controls... In practice, the use of taxes is much simpler... I therefore will concentrate on ‘carbon taxes’ as a way of implementing the global policy on a decentralized, individual level. 1990 New Age Dec. 14/1 70 percent of US citizens now support a carbon tax, which would penalize all energy sources that produce the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. 2004 Land Econ. 80 576/1 Even a relatively broad based environmental tax such as a carbon tax is much narrower than is the income tax. carbon tet n. colloquial = carbon tetrachloride n. ΚΠ 1926 Charleston (W. Va.) Gaz. 5 Dec. 13/1 (advt.) Dog owners. For those running fits. ‘Carbon tet.’ St. Albans Drug Store. 1979 W. Zander Distances iv. 58 I'm busy gearing up. Sponges! Carbon Tet! 2003 Test & Measurem. World (Nexis) 1 Sept. 52 Suppose you encounter a synthesized chemical (e.g., carbon tetrachloride). You note its uniquely pungent odor (not recommended, as carbon tet is toxic). carbon tetrachloride n. a colourless, toxic, volatile liquid used as a solvent, esp. for fats and oils.Formula: CCl₄. ΚΠ 1868 H. B. Jones & H. Watts Fownes's Man. Elem. Chem. (ed. 10) iii. 654 Carbon tetrachloride, CCl₄,..belongs to another series being the chlorine analogous to marsh-gas. 1936 S. Glasstone Recent Adv. Gen. Chem. i. 50 The reaction was stopped by the addition of crushed ice, and the organic iodide extracted by means of carbon tetrachloride. 2001 O. Sacks Uncle Tungsten viii. 89 Chloroform..had the same sort of smell as carbon tetrachloride (sold as the dry-cleaning fluid Thawpit). carbon tissue n. Photography (now chiefly historical) paper covered with a light-sensitive, pigmented, gelatin layer, used esp. in transferring positive images to photogravure plates. ΚΠ 1868 M. C. Lea Man. Photogr. (end matter) 14 (advt.) Beyrich & Vogel's carbon tissue, $4 per dozen. 1900 Nature 1 Mar. 416/1 To pigment the image, a piece of carbon tissue is soaked in a weak solution containing acetic acid, hydroquinone, and ferrous sulphate, squeezed on to the print and allowed to dry. 1942 K. Williams Diary 7 Jan. (1993) 2 I made a carbon tissue print. 2000 S. King in J. Barnier Coming into Focus vii. 89 The hand manufacture of carbon tissue described here makes it possible to produce images in any color imaginable. carbon trading n. the sale and purchase of credits allowing limited carbon emissions, such that companies producing emissions above allocated quotas are required to buy credits from ones whose emissions are below their quotas. ΚΠ 1992 Energy Policy 20 400/2 In one scenario, carbon trading occurs at the primary level with a stabilization constraint on carbon content at the distribution level. 2001 Big Issue 5 Mar. 14/3 On its own carbon trading will do virtually nothing to solve what is probably the most serious problem we face this century. 2003 D. Elliott Energy, Society & Environment (ed. 2) iii. 63 The various proposals for carbon emission permits and carbon trading arrangements that emerged from the Kyoto climate change accord. 2006 Canberra Times (Nexis) 18 Nov. b4 If Australia..introduced carbon trading it would cut the value of our national income over the next 50 years by a mere 0.16 per cent. carbon transmitter n. now historical = carbon microphone n. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > audibility > sound magnification or reproduction > [noun] > microphone carbon transmitter1878 microphone1878 carbon microphone1879 pantelephone1881 phonoscope1890 mike1911 condenser microphone1921 magnetophone1922 radio microphone1922 ionophone1924 crystal microphone1925 ribbon microphone1925 radio mike1926 laryngophone1927 velocity microphone1931 ribbon mike1933 pressure microphone1934 bug1936 eight ball1937 ribbon1937 throat microphone1937 throat mike1937 rifle microphone1938 parabolic microphone1939 lip microphone1941 intercept1942 spike mike1950 spy-mike1955 spy-microphone1960 mic1961 rifle mike1961 gun microphone1962 spike microphone1962 shotgun microphone1968 Lavallière1972 wire1973 sneaky1974 multi-mikes1990 1878 Manufacturer & Builder Nov. 245/1 Edison's carbon transmitter. 1944 Sci. Monthly Nov. 333/1 The variable resistance microphone, such as the carbon transmitter, and the electrodynamic and condenser microphones are now joined by the crystal microphone. 1977 Herald-Times-Reporter (Manitowoc-Two Rivers, Wisconsin) 3 June ii. 4/2 Edison..helped Alexander Graham Bell open up the world of telephone communication by introducing the carbon transmitter. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2022). carbonv. Brit. /ˈkɑːbən/, U.S. /ˈkɑrbən/ Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: carbon n. Etymology: < carbon n. intransitive. Chiefly of parts of an internal combustion engine: to become coated with carbon deposit. Usually with up. Also transitive (usually in passive): to deposit carbon in or on (an engine, etc.). ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > machines which impart power > engine > internal-combustion engine > operate internal-combustion engine [verb (intransitive)] > of cylinders: become coated with deposit carbon1922 1922 Daily Mail 28 Nov. 6 [A motor engine] longer to carbon up and easier to decarbonise than its rivals. 1928 Daily Express 3 Aug. 9 Even if the engine is carboned up, you get wonderful pulling. 1986 San Diego Union-Tribune (Nexis) 2 Apr. c3 I took it to a Honda garage and was told that too much oil carboned up the spark plugs. 1994 Countryside & Small Stock Jrnl. (Nexis) Mar. 32 I have two Aladdins [sc. oil lamps]..and one must adjust the wick every five minutes to keep them from carboning up. 2000 Pop. Mech. (Nexis) 1 June 131 The engine seems to get carboned up very quickly, even though I drive 7 miles to work every day through 40- to 45-mile-per-hour traffic. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online December 2021). < n.1788v.1922
随便看	phylogenal phylogeneses phylogenesis phylogenetic phylogenetic tree phylogenetical phylogenetically phylogeneticist phylogenetics phylogenic phylogenically phylogenies phylogenist phylogeny phylogerontic phylogerontism phylogram phylological phylonepionic phylopterous phylum phyly phyma phymatic phymatin

carbonn.

Compounds

carbonv.