debye

¹

[ dih-bahy ]

noun

, Electricity.

1. a unit of measure for electric dipole moments, equal to 10 –18 statcoulomb-centimeters. : D

Debye

²

[ de-bahy ]

noun

1. Pe·ter Jo·seph Wil·helm [pey, -t, uh, r, , yoh, -sef , vil, -helm], 1884–1966, Dutch physicist, in the U.S. after 1940: Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1936.

Debye

/ deˈbɛiə /

noun

1. DebyePeter Joseph Wilhelm18841966MDutchSCIENCE: chemistSCIENCE: physicist Peter Joseph Wilhelm. 1884–1966, Dutch chemist and physicist, working in the US: Nobel prize for chemistry (1936) for his work on dipole moments

Word History and Origins

Origin of debye¹

First recorded in 1930–35; named after P. J. W. Debye