from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
adjective Relating to or containing nitrogen, especially in a valence state lower than that in a comparable nitric compound.
from The Century Dictionary.
In chem., of, pertaining to, or derived from niter: applied to an oxygen compound which contains less oxygen than those in which the epithet nitric is used: thus, nitrous oxid (N2O), nitric oxid (N2O2); nitrous acid (HNO2), nitric acid (HNO3), etc.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
adjective Of, pertaining to, or containing, niter; of the quality of niter, or resembling it.
adjective (Chem.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, any one of those compounds in which nitrogen has a relatively lower valence as contrasted with nitric compounds.
adjective (Chem.) a hypothetical acid of nitrogen HNO2, not known in the free state, but forming a well known series of salts, viz., the nitrites.
adjective See Laughing gas.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
adjective chemistry of, relating to, or derived from nitrogen, especially in which the valence of the nitrogen is lower than that of a corresponding nitric species
adjective chemistry of, or relating to nitrous acid or its derivatives
adjective mycology, biology having a sharp odor like ammonia or nitric acid
noun dentistry, informalNitrous oxide.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
adjective of or containing nitrogen
Etymologies
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Examples
Priestley found that the same kind of air was to be obtained by moistening with the spirit of nitre (which he terms nitrous acid) any kind of earth that is free from phlogiston, and applying heat; and consequently he says: "There remained no doubt on my mind but that the atmospherical air, or the thing that we breathe, consists of the nitrous acid and earth, with so much phlogiston as is necessary to its elasticity, and likewise so much more as is required to bring it from its state of perfect purity to the mean condition in which we find it."
A study coauthored by Nobel-prize-winning chemist Paul Crutzen said corn ethanol might exacerbate climate change as the added fertilizer used to grow corn raised emissions of a very potent greenhouse gas called nitrous oxide.
Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory discovered that the nicotine in so-called 'third-hand smoke' reacts with a common indoor air pollutant called nitrous acid to form dangerous chemicals.
Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory discovered that the nicotine in so-called 'third-hand smoke' reacts with a common indoor air pollutant called nitrous acid to form dangerous chemicals.
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