nitrous oxide
- a colorless, sweet-smelling, sweet-tasting, nonflammable, slightly water-soluble gas, N2O, that sometimes produces a feeling of exhilaration when inhaled: used chiefly as an anesthetic in dentistry and surgery, in the manufacture of chemicals, and as an aerosol.
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Origin of nitrous oxide
First recorded in 1790–1800
Also called laughing gas.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for nitrous oxide
Historical Examples
To him is to be credited the first operation ever performed without pain by the use of nitrous-oxide gas.
An Epitome of the History of MedicineRoswell Park
In 1844, Horace Wells, a native of Vermont, discovered that the inhalation of nitrous-oxide gas produces anaesthesia.
Stories Of GeorgiaJoel Chandler Harris
It was then and not until then that the nitrous-oxide plant began running at anything like its real capacity.
With the Doughboy in FranceEdward Hungerford
nitrous oxide
- a colourless nonflammable slightly soluble gas with a sweet smell: used as an anaesthetic in dentistry and surgery. Formula: N 2 OSystematic name: dinitrogen oxide Also called: laughing gas
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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
nitrous oxide
- A colorless sweet-tasting gas used as a mild anesthetic in dentistry and surgery.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
nitrous oxide
- A colorless, sweet-smelling gas. It is used as a mild anesthetic, often called laughing gas. Nitrous oxide occurs naturally in the atmosphere and is a greenhouse gas. Chemical formula: N2O.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.