cobalt
[koh-bawlt]
- a silver-white metallic element with a faint pinkish tinge, occurring in compounds whose silicates afford important blue coloring substances for ceramics. Symbol: Co; atomic weight: 58.933; atomic number: 27; specific gravity: 8.9 at 20°C.
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Origin of cobalt
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for cobalt
Contemporary Examples
After just a “few minutes” of questioning at Cobalt, he was subject to enhanced interrogation techniques.
Self-described 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was also kept at Cobalt after his March 2003 in Pakistan.
In fact, four of 20 cells at Cobalt were found to have bars across the cell to allow this.
That was when General Motors was preparing to roll out the 2005 Cobalt.
Mining asteroids is about iron and nickel as well as cobalt and platinum-group metals, but also water and energy, he says.
Historical Examples
The very sky seemed pitiless in the intensity of its cobalt.
Bardelys the MagnificentRafael Sabatini
Very good, Cobalt—you'll 'phone me if you make any other discoveries.
Jack O' JudgmentEdgar Wallace
"I wish you'd call me Cobalt, miss," said the man with a smile.
Jack O' JudgmentEdgar Wallace
It is the source of a considerable supply of nickel and cobalt.
Commercial GeographyJacques W. Redway
The ores have a high content of cobalt and also carry precious metals.
The Economic Aspect of GeologyC. K. Leith
cobalt
- a brittle hard silvery-white element that is a ferromagnetic metal: occurs principally in cobaltite and smaltite and is widely used in alloys. The radioisotope cobalt-60, with a half-life of 5.3 years, is used in radiotherapy and as a tracer. Symbol: Co; atomic no: 27; atomic wt: 58.93320; valency: 2 or 3; relative density: 8.9; melting pt: 1495°C; boiling pt: 2928°C
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Word Origin
C17: German Kobalt, from Middle High German kobolt goblin; from the miners' belief that malicious goblins placed it in the silver ore
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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Word Origin and History for cobalt
n.
1680s, from German kobold "household goblin," Harz Mountains silver miners' term for rock laced with arsenic and sulfur (so called because it degraded the ore and made the miners ill), from Middle High German kobe "hut, shed" + *holt "goblin," from hold "gracious, friendly," a euphemistic word for a troublesome being. The metallic element was extracted from this rock. It was known to Paracelsus, but discovery is usually credited to the Swede George Brandt (1733), who gave it the name. Extended to a blue color 1835 (a mineral containing it had been used as a blue coloring for glass since 16c.). Cf. nickel.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
cobalt
(kō′bôlt′)- A metallic element, used chiefly for magnetic and high-temperature alloys and in the form of its salts for blue glass and ceramic pigments. Atomic number 27.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
cobalt
[kō′bôlt′]
- A silvery-white, hard, brittle metallic element that occurs widely in metal ores. It is used to make magnetic alloys, heat-resistant alloys, and blue pigment for ceramics and glass. Atomic number 27; atomic weight 58.9332; melting point 1,495°C; boiling point 2,900°C; specific gravity 8.9; valence 2, 3. See Periodic Table.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.