Element word meaning and definition

[noun] an artifact that is one of the individual parts of which a composite entity is made up; especially a part that can be separated from or attached to a system; "spare components for cars"; "a component or constituent element of a system"
[noun] the most favorable environment for a plant or animal; "water is the element of fishes"
[noun] a straight line that generates a cylinder or cone
[noun] the situation in which you are happiest and most effective; "in your element"
[noun] any of the more than 100 known substances (of which 92 occur naturally) that cannot be separated into simpler substances and that singly or in combination constitute all matter
[noun] one of four substances thought in ancient and medieval cosmology to constitute the physical universe; "the alchemists believed that there were four elements"

\El"e*ment\, n. [F. ['e]l['e]ment, L. elementum.] 1. One of the simplest or essential parts or principles of which anything consists, or upon which the constitution or fundamental powers of anything are based. 2. One of the ultimate, undecomposable constituents of any kind of matter. Specifically: (Chem.) A substance which cannot be decomposed into different kinds of matter by any means at present employed; as, the elements of water are oxygen and hydrogen. Note: The elements are naturally classified in several families or groups, as the group of the alkaline elements, the halogen group, and the like. They are roughly divided into two great classes, the metals, as sodium, calcium, etc., which form basic compounds, and the nonmetals or metalloids, as oxygen, sulphur, chlorine, which form acid compounds; but the distinction is only relative, and some, as arsenic, tin, aluminium, etc., form both acid and basic compounds. The essential fact regarding every element is its relative atomic weight or equivalent. When the elements are tabulated in the order of their ascending atomic weights, the arrangement constitutes the series of the Periodic law of Mendelejeff. See {Periodic law}, under {Periodic}. This Periodic law enables us to predict the qualities of unknown elements. The number of elements known is about seventy-five, but the gaps in the Periodic law indicate the possibility of many more. Many of the elements with which we are familiar, as hydrogen, carbon, iron, gold, etc., have been recognized, by means of spectrum analysis, in the sun and the fixed stars. From certain evidence (as that afforded by the Periodic law, spectrum analysis, etc.) it appears that the chemical elements probably may not be simple bodies, but only very stable compounds of some simpler body or bodies. In formulas, the elements are designated by abbreviations of their names in Latin or New Latin. The Elements ------------------------------------------------------------ Name |Sym-|Atomic Weight| |bol | O=16 | H=1 | ------------------------------------------------------------ Aluminum | Al | 27.1 | 26.9| Antimony(Stibium) Argon Arsenic Barium Beryllium (see Glucinum) Bismuth Boron Bromine Cadmium Caesium Calcium Carbon Cerium Chlorine Chromium Cobalt Columbium Copper (Cuprum) Erbium Fluorine Gadolinium Gallium Germanium Glucinum
\El"e*ment\ ([e^]l"[-e]*m[e^]nt), v. t. 1. To compound of elements or first principles. [Obs.] ``[Love] being elemented too.'' --Donne. 2. To constitute; to make up with elements. His very soul was elemented of nothing but sadness. --Walton.

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