Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Uranium
U-ra′ni-um
,Noun.
[NL., from
Uranus
the planet. See Uranus
.] (Chem.)
An element of the chromium group, found in certain rare minerals, as pitchblende, uranite, etc., and reduced as a heavy, hard, nickel-white metal which is quite permanent. Its yellow oxide is used to impart to glass a delicate greenish-yellow tint which is accompanied by a strong fluorescence, and its black oxide is used as a pigment in porcelain painting. Symbol U. Atomic weight 239.
☞ Uranium was discovered in the state of an oxide by Klaproth in 1789, and so named in honor of Herschel’s discovery of the planet
Uranus
in 1781. Webster 1828 Edition
Uranium
URA'NIUM
,Noun.
A metal discovered in 1789 by Klaproth, in the mineral called pechblend. It is occasionally found native in uran-ocher and uran-mica; but more generally it is obtained from pechblend, in which it exists with iron, copper, lead, and sometimes with arsenic, cobalt and zink.