carbonaceous, a.
(kɑːbəˈneɪʃəs)
[f. L. carbōn-em charcoal, coal + -aceous.]
1. Of the nature of coal, charcoal, or other common form of carbon; coaly.
| 1791 Hamilton Berthollet's Dyeing I. 8 It destroys the carbonaceous or coaly matter. 1863 Possibil. Creation 53 Manchester would soon be enveloped in a great carbonaceous fog. 1872 Yeats Techn. Hist. Comm. 101 Bellows, chimneys, and carbonaceous fuel were certainly employed by the ancients. |
2. Chem. Of or pertaining to the chemical element carbon; consisting of or containing carbon.
| 1794 Sullivan View Nat. I. 243 The acid is decomposed, the carbonaceous principle combines, and is fixed in the vegetable, while the oxigene is thrown off. 1794 G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Philos. I. xii. 497 Carbonaceous inflammable gas. 1807 Allen & Pepys in Phil. Trans. LX. 268 To consume certain known quantities of diamond and other carbonaceous substances in oxygene gas. 1879 Christian World 19 Dec. 814/1 Food..is made up of two constituents, the nitrogenous or flesh-forming part, and the carbonaceous or heat-producing part. |
3. Geol. Of the nature of coal, abounding in coal, coaly.
| 1833 Lyell Princ. Geol. III. 222 In one part of the series, carbonaceous shales occur. 1872 W. Symonds Rec. Rocks vi. 208 Carbonaceous markings of plants. 1878 Green Coal i. 27 The beds..more or less coaly or carbonaceous in character. |