element

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A fundamental, essential, or irreducible constituent of a composite entity.
2. n. The basic assumptions or principles of a subject.
3. n. Mathematics A member of a set.
4. n. Mathematics A point, line, or plane.
5. n. Mathematics A part of a geometric configuration, such as an angle in a triangle.
6. n. Mathematics The generatrix of a geometric figure.
7. n. Mathematics Any of the terms in the rectangular array of terms that constitute a matrix or determinant.
8. n. Chemistry & Physics A substance composed of atoms having an identical number of protons in each nucleus. Elements cannot be reduced to simpler substances by normal chemical means.
9. n. One of four substances, earth, air, fire, or water, formerly regarded as a fundamental constituent of the universe.
10. n. Electricity The resistance wire in an electrical appliance such as a heater or an oven.
11. n. The forces that constitute the weather, especially severe or inclement weather: outside paint that had been damaged by the elements.
12. n. An environment naturally suited to or associated with an individual: He is in his element when traveling. The business world is her element.
13. n. A distinct group within a larger community: the dissident element on campus.
14. n. A part of a military force, especially:
15. n. A ground unit in an air force comparable to a platoon.
16. n. A unit of an air force equal to two or three aircraft.
17. n. The bread and wine of the Eucharist.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. That of which anything is in part compounded, which exists in it, and which is itself not decomposable into parts of different kinds; a fundamental or ultimate part or principle; hence, in general, any component part; any constituent part or principle.
2. n. Specifically— An ingredient, especially of the temperament.
3. n. plural The rudimentary principles of any science: as, Euclid's “Elements” (Gr. στοιχει%148α), a work setting forth in an orderly and logical way the simple and fundamental propositions of geometry.
4. n. In geometry, one of the points, lines, or planes, or other geometrical forms, by which a figure or geometrical construction is made up. “Space may be considered as a geometrical figure whose elements are either points or planes. Taking the points as elements, the straight lines of space are so many ranges, and the planes of space so many planes of points. If, on the other hand, the planes are considered as elements, the straight lines of space are the axes of so many axial pencils, and points of space are centers of so many sheaves of planes” (Cremona, Geom., tr. by Leuesdorff, § 31).
5. n. In mathematics, one of a number of objects arranged in a symmetrical or regular figure. The elements of a determinant are the quantities arranged in a square block or matrix, the sum of whose products forms the determinant.
6. n. In astronomy, one of the quantities necessary to be known in calculating the place of a planet (perhaps because the planets were called elements). They are six, namely, the longitude of the ascending node, the inclination of the orbit to the ecliptic, the longitude of the perihelion, the mean distance from the sun, the mean longitude at any epoch, and the eccentricity.
7. n. A datum required for the solution of any problem.
8. n. plural The bread and wine used in the eucharist: distinctively called communion elements.
9. n. In biology, one of the primary or embryological parts composing the body of an animal, or of the pieces which have united to form any part. Thus, the thorax of an insect is composed of three principal elements or rings, the epicranium is formed of several elements or pieces which are soldered together, etc.
10. n. In electricity, a voltaic cell. See cell.
11. n. One of the four things, fire, water, earth, and air (to which ether was added as a fifth element), falsely regarded by the ancients as the constituents of which all things are composed. Water, as an element, consists of all that is in the rain, the rivers, the sea, etc.; fire, of lightning, the sun, etc.; these, together with the air and earth, were supposed to make up the matter of nature. The elements often means in a particular sense wind and water, especially in action: as, the fury of the elements.
12. n. A kind of matter undecomposable into other kinds. The elements as enumerated by Empedocles, and generally recognized in antiquity, were four—fire, water, earth, and air. (See 2.) The older chemists, of the fifteenth century and later, recognized three elements—sulphur, mercury, and salt. In modern chemistry an element, or elementary body, is regarded merely as a simple substance which has hitherto resisted analysis by any known chemical means. The list of such elements is a provisional one, since it is possible, and not improbable, that many bodies now considered elementary may be proved to be compound. There are about 70 elements at present (1889) recognized by chemists, commonly divided into two groups, namely, metals and the non-metallic bodies or metalloids. The non-metallic elements are hydrogen, chlorin, bromine, iodine, fluorin, oxygen, sulphur, selenium, tellurium, nitrogen, phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, bismuth, boron, silicon, and carbon. (See metalloid.) The remaining elements are regarded as metals. (See metal.) Five of the elements, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, chlorin, and fluorin, are gases at ordinary temperatures; two, bromine and mercury, are liquids; the rest are solids. The properties of all the elements bear a close relation to their atomic weights. (See periodic law, under periodic.) The following is a list of the elements with symbols and atomic weights.
13. n. There are a number of other bodies which have been named as elements (as phillipium, norwegium, etc.), whose properties have, however, not yet been sufficiently investigated and defined to warrant their inclusion in the list.
14. n. The proper or natural environment of anything; that in which something exists; hence, the sphere of experience of a person; the class of persons with whom one naturally associates, or the sphere of life with which one is familiar: as, he is out of his element.
15. To compound of elements or first principles.
16. To constitute; form from elements; compose; enter into the constitution of.

Wiktionary

1. n. 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. n. chemistry Any one of the simplest chemical substances that cannot be decomposed in a chemical reaction or by any chemical means and made up of atoms all having the same number of protons.
3. n. One of the four basic building blocks of matter in theories of ancient philosophers and alchemists: water, earth, fire, and air
4. n. Something small.
5. n. Atmospheric forces such as strong winds and rains.
6. n. A place or state of being that an individual or object is better suited towards.
7. n. law A required aspect or component of a cause of action. A deed is regarded a violation of law only if each element can be proved.
8. n. set theory One of the objects in a set.
9. n. A group of people within a larger group having a particular common characteristic.
10. n. A short form of heating element, a component in electrical equipment, often in the form of coil, having a high resistance, thereby generating heat when a current is passed through it.
11. n. computing One of the conceptual objects in a markup language, usually represented in text by a matching pair of tags.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. 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. n. 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.
3. n. One of the ultimate parts which are variously combined in anything; ; hence, also, a simple portion of that which is complex, as a shaft, lever, wheel, or any simple part in a machine; one of the essential ingredients of any mixture; a constituent part.
4. n. One out of several parts combined in a system of aggregation, when each is of the nature of the whole.
5. n. (Anat.) One of the smallest natural divisions of the organism, as a blood corpuscle, a muscular fiber.
6. n. (Biol.) One of the simplest essential parts, more commonly called cells, of which animal and vegetable organisms, or their tissues and organs, are composed.
7. n. An infinitesimal part of anything of the same nature as the entire magnitude considered. In the calculus, element is sometimes used as synonymous with differential.
8. n. Sometimes a curve, or surface, or volume is considered as described by a moving point, or curve, or surface, the latter being at any instant called an element of the former.
9. n. One of the terms in an algebraic expression.
10. n. One of the necessary data or values upon which a system of calculations depends, or general conclusions are based.
11. n. The simplest or fundamental principles of any system in philosophy, science, or art; rudiments.
12. n. Any outline or sketch, regarded as containing the fundamental ideas or features of the thing in question.
13. n. One of the simple substances, as supposed by the ancient philosophers; one of the imaginary principles of matter.
14. n. The four elements were, air, earth, water, and fire.
15. n. The elements of the alchemists were salt, sulphur, and mercury.
16. n. The whole material composing the world.
17. n. (Eccl.) The bread and wine used in the eucharist or Lord's supper.
18. v. obsolete To compound of elements or first principles.
19. v. To constitute; to make up with elements.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a straight line that generates a cylinder or cone
2. n. the situation in which you are happiest and most effective
3. n. the most favorable environment for a plant or animal
4. n. an abstract part of something
5. n. 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
6. n. 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
7. n. one of four substances thought in ancient and medieval cosmology to constitute the physical universe