COMBUSTION • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Combustion

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/kəmbˈəstʃən/ Listen

noun

Combustion n.

The state of burning.

(Chem.) The combination of a combustible with a supporter of combustion, producing heat, and sometimes both light and heat. "Combustion results in common cases from the mutual chemical action and reaction of the combustible and the oxygen of the atmosphere, whereby a new compound is formed."

Supporter of combustion (Chem.), a gas, as oxygen, the combination of which with a combustible, as coal, constitutes combustion.

Violent agitation; confusion; tumult. (Obs.) "There (were) great combustions and divisions among the heads of the university." "But say from whence this new combustion springs."

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Etymology of 'Combustion'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Combustion" Quotes from Famous Books

... "It means 'Cheating-fire.' Sometimes this gas, rising to the top of the water in bubbles, takes fire (by what they call spontaneous combustion, or by mixing with some other gas, or in some other way), and then, as one bubble after another takes fire and goes flickering along, it looks as if some one were walking through the woods ...

— St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, V. 5, April 1878 - Scribner's Illustrated • Various

... with them; he can intend consequences instead of just letting them happen—all synonymous ways of saying the same thing. At the same stroke, the flame has gained in meaning; all that is known about combustion, oxidation, about light and temperature, may become an intrinsic part of its ...

— Democracy and Education • John Dewey

... of high plateau is obstacle to efficient fuel combustion, as well as to physical activity by those unaccustomed to it from birth; flooding in the ...

— The 2000 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.

... trembled, and his entire attention was immediately swallowed up in the depths of contemplation. The rapid and vigorous conversion of his soul to intellect can only be compared with the instantaneous ignition and combustion, which dazzle the sight, when a bundle of dry reeds, or other light inflammable substance, is thrown upon a fire already rich ...

— Percy Bysshe Shelley • John Addington Symonds

... these years? What had they meant? By the internal combustion which had so suddenly lighted up the dark corners of his being, he saw with almost clairvoyant distinctness how it must have been. He saw her growing older, as he had grown older, but in the dull apathy of monotony. She had none of this great filling Labour wherewith to drug herself into day-dreams ...

— Blazed Trail Stories - and Stories of the Wild Life • Stewart Edward White

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