meson

[ mee-zon, ‐son, mez-on, mes‐ ]

noun
  1. Physics. any hadron, or strongly interacting particle, other than a baryon. Mesons are bosons, having spins of 0, 1, 2, …, and, unlike baryons, do not obey a conservation law.

Origin of meson

1
1935–40; mes- + -on1; cf. mesotron

Other words from meson

  • me·son·ic, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use meson in a sentence

  • Mesons are elementary particles intermediate in mass between the electron and proton.

    LRL Accelerators | Lawrence Radiation Laboratory
  • Other experiments measure the energy and direction of emission of π mesons from a target.

    LRL Accelerators | Lawrence Radiation Laboratory
  • A beam of these mesons is formed by a series of two bending magnets and three focusing magnets.

    LRL Accelerators | Lawrence Radiation Laboratory
  • The hard components of cosmic rays—fast mesons, high energy protons and neutrons—would rip through the ship.

    First on the Moon | Jeff Sutton
  • These mesons are bent in various directions by the main magnetic field.

    LRL Accelerators | Lawrence Radiation Laboratory

British Dictionary definitions for meson

meson

/ (ˈmiːzɒn) /


noun
  1. any of a group of elementary particles, such as a pion or kaon, that usually has a rest mass between those of an electron and a proton, and an integral spin. They are responsible for the force between nucleons in the atomic nucleus: Former name: mesotron See also muon

Origin of meson

1
C20: from meso- + -on

Derived forms of meson

  • mesonic or mesic, adjective

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

Scientific definitions for meson

meson

[ mĕzŏn′, mĕs-, mēzŏn′, -sŏn′ ]


  1. Any of a family of subatomic particles that are composed of a quark and an antiquark. Their masses are generally intermediate between leptons and baryons, and they can have positive, negative, or neutral charge. Mesons form a subclass of hadrons and include the kaon, pion and J/psi particles. Mesons were originally believed to be the particles that mediated the strong nuclear force, but it has since been shown that the gluon mediates this force. See Table at subatomic particle.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Cultural definitions for meson

meson

[ (mez-on, may-zon) ]


An elementary particle in the atomic nucleus.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.