silicon
n.
nonmetallic element which makes up more than one fourth of the earth's crust and is used in the manufacture of metal alloys and electronic components (Chemistry)
Silicon
Silicon
silicon
Noun
1. a tetravalent nonmetallic element; next to oxygen it is the most abundant element in the earth's crust; occurs in clay and feldspar and granite and quartz and sand; used as a semiconductor in transistors
(synonym) Si, atomic number 14
(hypernym) chemical element, element
(substance-holonym) silicone, silicone polymer
Silicon
(n.)
A nonmetalic element analogous to carbon. It always occurs combined in nature, and is artificially obtained in the free state, usually as a dark brown amorphous powder, or as a dark crystalline substance with a meetallic luster. Its oxide is silica, or common quartz, and in this form, or as silicates, it is, next to oxygen, the most abundant element of the earth's crust. Silicon is characteristically the element of the mineral kingdom, as carbon is of the organic world. Symbol Si. Atomic weight 28. Called also silicium.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), edited by Noah Porter.
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