Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
| a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal. |
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furan fu·ran (fy&oobreve;r'ān', fy&oobreve;-rān')
n.
Any of a group of colorless, volatile, heterocyclic organic compounds containing a ring of four carbon atoms and one oxygen atom, used in the synthesis of organics.
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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furan  (fy r'ān', fy-rān') Pronunciation Key
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Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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furan
any of a class of organic compounds of the heterocyclic aromatic series characterized by a ring structure composed of one oxygen atom and four carbon atoms. The simplest member of the furan family is furan itself, a colourless, volatile, and somewhat toxic liquid that boils at 31.36 C (88.45 F). It is usually converted by hydrogenation to tetrahydrofuran, which is used as a solvent and for production of adipic acid and hexamethylenediamine, the raw materials for nylon-6,6. Several other members of the furan family are produced on a large scale for use as solvents and chemical raw materials. The first furan compound discovered was pyromucic acid (2-furoic acid), prepared in 1780. The aldehyde furfural, used as a solvent in petroleum refining, is manufactured from corn cobs and oat hulls by treatment with acid.
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