9 results for: oxidize

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

ox·i·dize

Audio Help [ok-si-dahyz] Pronunciation Key verb, -dized, -diz·ing. Chemistry

–verb (used with object)

1.	to convert (an element) into an oxide; combine with oxygen.

2.	to cover with a coating of oxide or rust.

3.	to take away hydrogen, as by the action of oxygen; add oxygen or any nonmetal.

4.	to remove electrons from (an atom or molecule), thereby increasing the valence. Compare reduce (def. 12).

–verb (used without object)

5.	to become oxidized.

6.	(esp. of white wine) to lose freshness after prolonged exposure to air and often to darken in color.

Also, especially British, ox·i·dise.

[Origin: 1795–1805; oxide + -ize

]

—Related forms

ox·i·diz·a·ble, ox·i·da·ble

Audio Help [ok-si-duh-buh

l] Pronunciation Key, adjective

ox·i·diz·a·bil·i·ty, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
oxidize

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

ox·i·dize Audio Help   (ŏk'sĭ-dīz') Pronunciation Key
v.   ox·i·dized, ox·i·diz·ing, ox·i·diz·es

v.   tr.

To combine with oxygen; make into an oxide.
To increase the positive charge or valence of (an element) by removing electrons.
To coat with oxide.

v. intr.
To become oxidized.

ox'i·diz'a·ble adj., ox'i·di·za'tion (-dĭ-zā'shən) n.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

oxidize
verb
1.	enter into a combination with oxygen or become converted into an oxide; "This metal oxidizes easily" [syn: oxidise]
2.	add oxygen to or combine with oxygen [ant: deoxidise]

The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

oxidize Audio Help (ŏk'sĭ-dīz') Pronunciation Key
To undergo or cause to undergo oxidation.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

ox·i·dize (ks-dz)
v. ox·i·dized, ox·i·diz·ing, ox·i·diz·es

To combine with oxygen; change into an oxide.
To increase the positive charge or valence of an element by removing electrons.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Main Entry: ox·i·dize
Variant: also British ox·i·dise /'äk-s&-"dIz/
Function: verb
Inflected Forms: -dized also British -dised; -diz·ing also British -dis·ing
transitive senses
1 : to combine with oxygen
2 : to dehydrogenate especially by the action of oxygen
3 : to change (a compound) by increasing the proportion of the electronegative part or change (an element or ion) from a lower to a higher positive valence : remove one or more electrons from (an atom, ion, or molecule) intransitive senses
: to become oxidized —ox·i·diz·able /-"dI-z&-b&l/ adjective

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Oxidize

Ox"i*dize\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Oxidized; p. pr. & vb. n. Oxidizing.] (Chem.) To combine with oxygen, or subject to the action of oxygen, or of an oxidizing agent. Specifically: (a) To combine with oxygen or with more oxygen; to add oxygen to; as, to oxidize nitrous acid so as to form nitric acid. (b) To remove hydrogen from (anything), as by the action of oxygen; as, to oxidize alcohol so as to form aldehyde. (c) To subject to the action of oxygen or of an oxidizing agent, so as to bring to a higher grade, as an -ous compound to an -ic compound; as, to oxidize mercurous chloride to mercuric chloride.

Note: In certain cases to oxidize is identical with to acidify; for, in nearly all cases, the more oxygen a substance contains the more nearly does it approximate to acid qualities; thus, by oxidation many elements, as sulphur, nitrogen, carbon, chromium, manganese, etc., pass into compounds which are acid anhydrides, and thus practically in the acid state.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

oxidize

Re*duce"\ (r[-e]*d[=u]s"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Reduced (-d[=u]st"),; p. pr. & vb. n. Reducing (-d[=u]"s[i^]ng).] [L. reducere, reductum; pref. red-. re-, re- + ducere to lead. See Duke, and cf. Redoubt, n.]

1. To bring or lead back to any former place or condition. [Obs.]

And to his brother's house reduced his wife. --Chapman.

The sheep must of necessity be scattered, unless the great Shephered of souls oppose, or some of his delegates reduce and direct us. --Evelyn.

2. To bring to any inferior state, with respect to rank, size, quantity, quality, value, etc.; to diminish; to lower; to degrade; to impair; as, to reduce a sergeant to the ranks; to reduce a drawing; to reduce expenses; to reduce the intensity of heat. "An ancient but reduced family." --Sir W. Scott.

Nothing so excellent but a man may fasten upon something belonging to it, to reduce it. --Tillotson.

Having reduced Their foe to misery beneath their fears. --Milton.

Hester Prynne was shocked at the condition to which she found the clergyman reduced. --Hawthorne.

3. To bring to terms; to humble; to conquer; to subdue; to capture; as, to reduce a province or a fort.

4. To bring to a certain state or condition by grinding, pounding, kneading, rubbing, etc.; as, to reduce a substance to powder, or to a pasty mass; to reduce fruit, wood, or paper rags, to pulp.

It were but right And equal to reduce me to my dust. --Milton.

5. To bring into a certain order, arrangement, classification, etc.; to bring under rules or within certain limits of descriptions and terms adapted to use in computation; as, to reduce animals or vegetables to a class or classes; to reduce a series of observations in astronomy; to reduce language to rules.

6. (Arith.) (a) To change, as numbers, from one denomination into another without altering their value, or from one denomination into others of the same value; as, to reduce pounds, shillings, and pence to pence, or to reduce pence to pounds; to reduce days and hours to minutes, or minutes to days and hours. (b) To change the form of a quantity or expression without altering its value; as, to reduce fractions to their lowest terms, to a common denominator, etc.

7. (Chem.) To bring to the metallic state by separating from impurities; hence, in general, to remove oxygen from; to deoxidize; to combine with, or to subject to the action of, hydrogen; as, ferric iron is reduced to ferrous iron; or metals are reduced from their ores; -- opposed to oxidize.

8. (Med.) To restore to its proper place or condition, as a displaced organ or part; as, to reduce a dislocation, a fracture, or a hernia.

Reduced iron (Chem.), metallic iron obtained through deoxidation of an oxide of iron by exposure to a current of hydrogen or other reducing agent. When hydrogen is used the product is called also iron by hydrogen.

To reduce an equation (Alg.), to bring the unknown quantity by itself on one side, and all the known quantities on the other side, without destroying the equation.

To reduce an expression (Alg.), to obtain an equivalent expression of simpler form.

To reduce a square (Mil.), to reform the line or column from the square.

Syn: To diminish; lessen; decrease; abate; shorten; curtail; impair; lower; subject; subdue; subjugate; conquer.

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