cobalt

[ koh-bawlt ]

/ ˈkoʊ bɔlt /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR cobalt ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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.

Nearby words

Origin of cobalt

1675–85; < German Kobalt, variant of Kobold kobold

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for cobalt

After just a “few minutes” of questioning at Cobalt, he was subject to enhanced interrogation techniques.
Inside the CIA’s Sadistic Dungeon|Tim Mak|December 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Self-described 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was also kept at Cobalt after his March 2003 in Pakistan.
Inside the CIA’s Sadistic Dungeon|Tim Mak|December 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In fact, four of 20 cells at Cobalt were found to have bars across the cell to allow this.
Inside the CIA’s Sadistic Dungeon|Tim Mak|December 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
That was when General Motors was preparing to roll out the 2005 Cobalt.
The Cops Who Found Out the Truth About GM's Deadly Cars—in 2006|Michael Daly|July 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Mining asteroids is about iron and nickel as well as cobalt and platinum-group metals, but also water and energy, he says.
James Cameron and Investors Seek to Lasso and Mine an Asteroid|Vivien Marx|April 24, 2012|DAILY BEAST
The spirit will attract the flies, and the cobalt will kill them very soon.
The American Housewife|Anonymous
Only certain substances show magnetic properties, these being iron, nickel, cobalt and their alloys.
Aviation Engines|Victor Wilfred Pag
Bleu de roi, made from cobalt; a deep lapis lazuli, sometimes veined and sown with gold.
Pottery and Porcelain, from early times down to the Philadelphia exhibition of 1876|Charles Wyllys Elliott
In water-colour painting, cobalt is tolerably firm on paper, and consequently answers better for some purposes than French blue.
Field's Chromatography|George Field
It may be prepared by the addition of potassium nitrite to an acetic acid solution of cobalt chloride.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 5|Various

British Dictionary definitions for cobalt

cobalt

/ (ˈkəʊbɔːlt) /

noun

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

Word Origin for cobalt

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 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for cobalt

cobalt

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.

Medicine definitions for cobalt

cobalt

[ kō′bôlt′ ]

n. Symbol Co

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.

Science definitions for cobalt

cobalt

[ kō′bôlt′ ]

Co

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.