Hypertext Webster Gateway: "atom"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Atom \At"om\, v. t.
To reduce to atoms. [Obs.] --Feltham.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Atom \At"om\, n. [L. atomus, Gr. ?, uncut, indivisible; 'a priv.
+ ?, verbal adj. of ? to cut: cf. F. atome. See {Tome}.]
1. (Physics)
(a) An ultimate indivisible particle of matter.
(b) An ultimate particle of matter not necessarily
indivisible; a molecule.
(c) A constituent particle of matter, or a molecule
supposed to be made up of subordinate particles.
Note: These three definitions correspond to different views
of the nature of the ultimate particles of matter. In
the case of the last two, the particles are more
correctly called molecules. --Dana.
2. (Chem.) The smallest particle of matter that can enter
into combination; one of the elementary constituents of a
molecule.
3. Anything extremely small; a particle; a whit.
There was not an atom of water. --Sir J. Ross.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
atom
n 1: (physics and chemistry) the smallest component of an element
having the chemical properties of the element
2: (nontechnical usage) a tiny piece of anything [syn: {molecule},
{particle}, {mote}, {speck}]
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