Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A brittle, crystalline, highly diamagnetic metallic element with a very low thermal conductivity and a pinkish-white luster, used in alloys to form sharp castings for objects sensitive to high temperatures and in various low-melting alloys for fire-safety devices. Atomic number 83; atomic weight 208.98; melting point 271.3°C; boiling point 1,564°C; specific gravity 9.78; valence 3, 5. cross-reference: Periodic Table.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Chemical symbol, Bi; atomic weight, 208; specific gravity, 9.6 to 9.8. A metal of a peculiar light-reddish color, highly crystalline, and so brittle that it can be pulverized.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Chem.) One of the elements; a metal of a reddish white color, crystallizing in rhombohedrons. It is somewhat harder than lead, and rather brittle; masses show broad cleavage surfaces when broken across. It melts at 507° Fahr., being easily fused in the flame of a candle. It is found in a native state, and as a constituent of some minerals. Specific gravity 9.8. Atomic weight 207.5. Symbol Bi.
  • noun bismuth sulphide; bismuthinite.
  • noun a native bismuth oxide; bismite.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A chemical element (symbol Bi) with an atomic number of 83.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a heavy brittle diamagnetic trivalent metallic element (resembles arsenic and antimony chemically); usually recovered as a by-product from ores of other metals

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Obsolete German Bismuth; see kweit- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Uncertain; perhaps German weiß ("white") Masse ("mass").

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Examples

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  • Can be spelled with the Periodic Table of Elements symbols: BiSmUTh

    December 12, 2006

  • Bi.

    December 16, 2007