Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


ozone

o′zone

(ō′zōn or ō̍-zōn′)
,
Noun.
[Gr.
ὄζων
smelling, p. pr. of
ὄζειν
to smell. See
Odor
.]
(Chem.)
A colorless gaseous substance (
O3
) obtained (as by the silent discharge of electricity in oxygen) as an allotropic form of oxygen, containing three atoms in the molecule. It is a strong oxidizer, and probably exists in the air, though by the ordinary tests it is liable to be confused with certain other substances, as hydrogen dioxide, or certain oxides of nitrogen. It derives its name from its peculiar odor, which resembles that of weak chlorine.

Definition 2024


ozone

ozone

See also: ozoné

English

Noun

ozone (uncountable)

  1. (chemistry) An allotrope of oxygen (symbol O3) having three atoms in the molecule instead of the usual two; it is a blue gas, generated from oxygen by electrical discharge.
  2. (from an erroneous former belief that seaweed contains and releases ozone) Fresh air, especially that breathed at the seaside and smelling of seaweed.
    • 1875, William Crookes, The Chemical News, page 99,
      A patent obtained in England, and specified far from clearly, for obtaining ozone by boiling seaweed,†† may be mentioned as a curiosity, and also the credulity with which ozone-baths, prepared in this manner, find a ready sale, in spite of, or perhaps rather on account of, their high price.
    • 1888, L. T. Meade, A. Balfour Symington, Edwin Oliver, Atalanta, Volume 1, page 674,
      To Ramsgate baths she sped, in quest / Of seaweed and ozone ; / For seaweed and ozone were best, / They said, to give her tone.
    • 2007, Robert Douglas, Tales of the Unexpected, Somewhere to Lay My Head, unnumbered page,
      It's got the lot: fresh sea air, ozone, seaweed. You could cut the air with a knife.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

ozone (third-person singular simple present ozones, present participle ozoning, simple past and past participle ozoned)

  1. (transitive) To treat with ozone.
    • 1868, Medical and Surgical Reporter (volume 19, page 392)
      Whenever it exists, as it usually does, even where the tide water freshens at the ebb, it seems to have a purifying tendency, probably by ozoning the superincumbent atmosphere.
    • 1997, Robert Sampson, ‎Patricia Hughes, Breaking Out of Environmental Illness
      I worked nonstop to make the house safe. Periodically I ozoned the first-floor bathroom, but it still made us sick.

French

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɔ.zɔn/

Noun

ozone m (plural ozones)

  1. ozone (O3')