carbon monoxide
- a colorless, odorless, poisonous gas, CO, that burns with a pale-blue flame, produced when carbon burns with insufficient air: used chiefly in organic synthesis, metallurgy, and in the preparation of metal carbonyls, as nickel carbonyl.
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Origin of carbon monoxide
First recorded in 1870–75
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for carbon monoxide
Contemporary Examples
His team of engineers set to work on a new device, a combination smoke and carbon-monoxide detector.
For example, research has shown that most carbon-monoxide alarm incidents are triggered by a malfunctioning furnace.
Historical Examples
Take as an illustration, the part played by water in determining the explosion of oxygen and carbon-monoxide gas.
On Digestive ProteolysisR. H. Chittenden
The gases which ascend from the fire consist largely of "carbon-monoxide," a burnable gas with lots of heat still left in it.
The Romance of War InventionsThomas W. Corbin
Producer-gas, pro-dū′sėr-gas, n. a mixture of hydrogen and carbon-monoxide diluted with nitrogen.
carbon monoxide
- a colourless odourless poisonous flammable gas formed when carbon compounds burn in insufficient air and produced by the action of steam on hot carbon: used as a reducing agent in metallurgy and as a fuel. Formula: CO
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for carbon monoxide
n.
1869, so called because it consists of one carbon and one oxygen atom (as opposed to carbon dioxide, which has two of the latter). An older name for it was carbonic oxide gas.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
carbon monoxide
- A colorless, odorless, highly poisonous gas that is formed by the incomplete combustion of carbon or of a carbonaceous material, such as gasoline.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
carbon monoxide
- A colorless, odorless gas formed when a compound containing carbon burns incompletely because there is not enough oxygen. It is present in the exhaust gases of automobile engines and is very poisonous. Chemical formula: CO.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
carbon monoxide
Note
Carbon monoxide is usually formed when materials burn; it is found, for example, in automobile exhaust.
Note
Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that can be fatal to human beings if inhaled.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.