Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Xylene
Xy′lene
,Noun.
[Gr.
ξύλον
wood.] (Chem.)
Any of a group of three metameric hydrocarbons of the aromatic series, found in coal and wood tar, and so named because found in crude wood spirit. They are colorless, oily, inflammable liquids,
C6H4.(CH3)2
, being dimethyl benzenes, and are called respectively orthoxylene
, metaxylene
, and paraxylene
. Called also xylol
. ☞ Each of these xylenes is the nucleus and prototype of a distinct series of compounds.
Definition 2024
xylene
xylene
See also: xylène
English
Noun
xylene (plural xylenes)
- (chemistry) Any of a group of three isomeric aromatic hydrocarbons, di-methyl-benzene, found in coal and wood tar.
- 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, p. 262:
- [...] proceeding, desperately, from such opiated catarrh preparations as Collis Brown's Mixture on to cocainized brain tonics, cigarettes soaked in absinthe, xylene in unventilated rooms, and so on [...].
- 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, p. 262:
Translations
di-methyl-benzene