▪ I. lithia1 Chem.
(ˈlɪθɪə)
[a. mod.L. lithia, altered from lithion, after soda, potassa. Cf. lithina.]
The oxide of lithium, LiO.
| 1818 Jrnl. Sci. & Arts V. 337 Lithia (the name given to the new alkali) was first found in the petalite. 1819 [see lithium]. 1826 Henry Elem. Chem. I. 573 The acetate of lithia..was converted by calcination into carbonate of lithia. 1875 H. C. Wood Therap. (1879) 497 Lithia..closely resembles potash in its effects upon the system. |
b. attrib. and Comb., as lithia salt, lithia water; lithia-emerald (see hiddenite); lithia-mica = lepidolite; lithia-tourmaline = rubellite.
| 1854–68 Dana Min. (ed. 5) 314 Lepidolite..*Lithia-mica. 1879 Rutley Study Rocks xii. 211 Greisen is a granular⁓crystalline rock, consisting of quartz and mica, the latter usually lithia-mica. |
| 1842 Parnell Chem. Anal. (1845) 50 A *lithia salt. |
| 1878 Kingzett Anim. Chem. 201 *Lithia water is often prescribed to gouty..persons. |
c. colloq. Short for lithia water.
| 1893 Saltus Sapphira 21 Mr. Snaith..refreshed himself with whisky and lithia. |
▪ II. ‖ lithia2 Path.
(ˈlɪθɪə)
[mod.L., f. Gr. λίθος stone.]
The formation of sand or stony concretions in the body, esp. in the Meibomian follicles of the eye. (Cf. lithiasis.)
| 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) IV. 255 Tendency to the separation or production of a morbid superabundance of calcareous earth in Osthexia and Lithia. 1842 Dunglison Med. Lex., Lithia, the formation of stone or gravel in the human body. Also, an affection in which the eyelids are edged with small, hard, and stone-like concretions. 1889 in Syd. Soc. Lex. |