phlogiston

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“
All the combustible substances, he argued, must contain a common principle; he named this supposed principle, phlogiston (from the Greek word phlogistos = burnt, or set on fire).

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Definitions (4)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun A hypothetical substance formerly thought to be a volatile constituent of all combustible substances, released as flame in combustion.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (1)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • He carried Noss and Lunetta Drogen aboard ship into the phlogiston-rich atmosphere. —  to make a new
  • We're not talking 19th century stuff like Lamarck's acquired characteristics or phlogiston, the undetectable stuff that was supposedly needed for fire. —  The Why Files
  • Cavendish first thought the gas was phlogiston, but then was the first to distinguish it from other gases. —  Featured Articles - Encyclopedia of Earth
  • Johann Becher and Georg Stahl had proposed a combustible substance, phlogiston, which they felt responsible for all burning. —  Featured Articles - Encyclopedia of Earth
  • Until comparatively recently, with the slight exception perhaps of certain pockets within the academy, it was a general tendency among educated people as well, even those of radical temper, to put their old volumes of Marx up on the shelf reserved for the phlogiston theory.
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. From Greek, neuter of phlogistos, inflammable, from phlogizein, to set on fire, from phlox, phlog-, flame; see bhel-1 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. New Latin, from Greek φλογιστός, inflammable, burnt up, verbal adjective of φλογίζειν, burn, from φλόξ, a flame: see phlox.
 

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/fləˈdʒɪstɑn/
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