▪ I. carbonate, n.
(ˈkɑːbənət)
Also 8–9 carbonat.
[a. F. carbonate, ad. mod.L. carbonātum ‘a carbonated (product)’, f. carbon n. or L. carbōn-em + -ate 1 c. Cf. carbonated.]
1. Chem. A salt of carbonic acid, a chemical compound formed by the union of carbonic acid with a base or basic oxide. These constitute a very numerous class of bodies, some of which, e.g. Carbonate of lime, CaCO3, exist in great quantities in nature.
Since carbonic acid (the hydrate), CH2O3= 2HO.CO, contains two atoms of replaceable hydrogen, there exist two sets of carbonates, viz. normal carbonates in which both atoms of H are replaced by a metal, and hydrogen carbonates, in which only one atom of H is so replaced. Thus normal sodium carbonate (carbonate of soda) 2NaO.CO, hydrogen sodium carbonate (bicarbonate of soda) HO.NaO.CO.
| 1794 Pearson in Phil. Trans. LXXXIV. 394 Carbonate of lime (chalk) readily dissolved, with effervescence, in the liquid. 1794 G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Philos. I. App. 546 The alkaline carbonats are soluble in water. 1807 Marcet in Phil. Trans. XCVII. 308 Common carbonat of magnesia. 1876 Page Adv. Text-bk. Geol. iii. 70 The alkalis and alkaline carbonates attack many rocks with great facility. 1876 Harley Mat. Med. 245 Carbonate of lead has been known from the highest antiquity. |
2. ellipt. ‘The common term in the West for ores containing a considerable proportion of carbonate of lead. They are sometimes earthy or ochreous (soft carbonates), sometimes granular and comparatively free from iron (sand carbonates), and sometimes compact (hard carbonates)’ (Raymond Mining Gloss.). In full carbonate ore.
| 1890 W. J. Gordon Foundry 96 The hæmatite,..unlike the carbonate ores,..requires no roasting. 1892 Daily News 29 Oct. 6/4 The new bodies of carbonate ore. |
3. = carbon n. 1 b.
| 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal-m., Carbonates, black imperfectly crystallised form of diamond used for rock boring; the abrasion of the diamond removes the rock in an annular form, producing cores. |
▪ II. carbonate, v.1
(ˈkɑːbəneɪt)
[f. prec.: cf. F. carbonater.]
1. trans. To burn to carbon, char, carbonize.
| 1831 Fraser's Mag. III. 744 Witches..were carbonated in the fire because they unreasonably resisted drowning in the millrace. |
2. Chem. To form into a carbonate. b. To impregnate with carbonic acid gas, to aërate.
| 1805 W. Saunders Min. Waters 237 Caustic alkali..becoming itself carbonated by means of the water. 1853 W. Gregory Inorg. Chem. 279 The slow action of air, moisture, and the vapour of acetic acid on thin sheets of lead, by which the metal is oxidised and carbonated. |
▪ III. † carbonate, v.2 Obs.
[var. of carbonade v.]
= carbonado v. Hence carbonated ppl. a.
| 1629 Gaule Holy Madn. 255 To carbonate his Flesh. 1675 Evelyn Terra (1729) 22 How men carbonate and cut so many Rills, and narrow Trenches irregularly crossing one another, to drain their Meadows. 1659 Gauden Tears Ch. 580 (D.) Antiepiscopall Preachers..being loth to be Carbonated or Crucified Christians. |