Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A reddish organic substance, found on the surface of icy bodies in the outer solar system, and formed by the exposure of simple organic compounds, such as ethane and methane, to ultraviolet radiation.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun organic chemistry, astronomy Any of several poorly classified
heteropolymers derived from simplehydrocarbons andammonia formed bysolar irradiation in theatmospheres oficy planets andmoons
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Greek tholos, mud + –in (coined by Carl Sagan).]
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Examples
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I ken it's an awfu 'job for Bawbie tholin' my ongaens; but, at the same time, if it wasna me, the neeper wives an her wudna hae onything to mak 'a molligrant aboot ava.
My Man Sandy J. B. Salmond
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