Crossword clues for volatile
volatile
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Volatile \Vol"a*tile\, a. [F. volatil, L. volatilis, fr. volare to fly, perhaps akin to velox swift, E. velocity. Cf. Volley.]
Passing through the air on wings, or by the buoyant force of the atmosphere; flying; having the power to fly. [Obs.]
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Capable of wasting away, or of easily passing into the a["e]riform state; subject to evaporation.
Note: Substances which affect the smell with pungent or fragrant odors, as musk, hartshorn, and essential oils, are called volatile substances, because they waste away on exposure to the atmosphere. Alcohol and ether are called volatile liquids for a similar reason, and because they easily pass into the state of vapor on the application of heat. On the contrary, gold is a fixed substance, because it does not suffer waste, even when exposed to the heat of a furnace; and oils are called fixed when they do not evaporate on simple exposure to the atmosphere.
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Fig.: Light-hearted; easily affected by circumstances; airy; lively; hence, changeable; fickle; as, a volatile temper.
You are as giddy and volatile as ever.
--Swift.Volatile alkali. (Old Chem.) See under Alkali.
Volatile liniment, a liniment composed of sweet oil and ammonia, so called from the readiness with which the latter evaporates.
Volatile oils. (Chem.) See Essential oils, under Essential.
Volatile \Vol"a*tile\, n. [Cf. F. volatile.]
A winged animal; wild fowl; game. [Obs.]
--Chaucer.
--Sir T.
Browne.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1590s "fine or light," also "evaporating rapidly" (c.1600), from Middle French volatile, from Latin volatilis "fleeting, transitory; swift, rapid; flying, winged," from past participle stem of volare "to fly" (see volant). Sense of "readily changing, flighty, fickle" is first recorded 1640s. Volatiles in Middle English meant "birds, butterflies, and other winged creatures" (c.1300).
Wiktionary
a. 1 (context physics English) evaporating or vaporizing readily under normal conditions. 2 (context of a substance informal English) explosive. 3 (context of a price etc English) variable or erratic. 4 (context of a person English) quick to become angry or violent. 5 fickle. 6 temporary or ephemeral. 7 (context of a situation English) potentially violent. 8 (context computing of a variable English) having its associated memory immediately updated with any changes in value. 9 (context computing of memory English) whose content is lost when the computer is powered down 10 (context obsolete English) Passing through the air on wings, or by the buoyant force of the atmosphere; flying; having the power to fly.
WordNet
adj. evaporating readily at normal temperatures and pressures; "volatile oils"; "volatile solvents" [ant: nonvolatile]
liable to lead to sudden change or violence; "an explosive issue"; "a volatile situation with troops and rioters eager for a confrontation" [syn: explosive]
marked by erratic changeableness in affections or attachments; "fickle friends"; "a flirt's volatile affections" [syn: fickle]
tending to vary often or widely; "volatile stocks"; "volatile emotions"
n. a volatile substance; a substance that changes readily from solid or liquid to a vapor; "it was heated to evaporate the volatiles"
Wikipedia
In computer programming, particularly in the C, C++, C#, and Java programming languages, the volatile keyword indicates that a value may change between different accesses, even if it does not appear to be modified. This keyword prevents an optimizing compiler from optimizing away subsequent reads or writes and thus incorrectly reusing a stale value or omitting writes. Volatile values primarily arise in hardware access ( memory-mapped I/O), where reading from or writing to memory is used to communicate with peripheral devices, and in threading, where a different thread may have modified a value.
Despite being a common keyword, the behavior of volatile differs significantly between programming languages, and is easily misunderstood. In C and C++, it is a type qualifier, like [[const (computer programming)|const]], and is a property of the type. Furthermore, in C and C++ it does not work in most threading scenarios, and that use is discouraged. In Java and C#, it is a property of a variable and indicates that the object to which the variable is bound may mutate, and is specifically intended for threading. In the D programming language, which is based on C++, there is a separate keyword shared for the threading usage, but no volatile keyword exists.
Volatile is the second studio album from The Lime Spiders, released in 1988 through Virgin Records on vinyl.
Volatile is the debut album by American metalcore band A Hero A Fake, released on October 28, 2008 through Victory Records. A music video for the album's single, I Know I, was produced by Scott Hansen and premiered on MTV2 on February 21, 2009.
Usage examples of "volatile".
Its tuberous root has been found to contain a particular volatile acrid principle which exercises distinct medicinal effects, though these are altogether dissipated if the roots are subjected to heat by boiling or baking.
Raw Onions contain an acrid volatile oil, sulphur, phosphorus, alkaline earthy salts, phosphoric and acetic acids, with phosphate and citrate of lime, starch, free uncrystallized sugar, and lignine.
The virtues of black Mustard depend on the acrid volatile oil contained in its seeds.
The explosion blew apart what had been left of the superstructure, taking with it the masts and antennae as the ship erupted into flames amidships, the fire migrating aft to the fuel tanks, where ruptured fuel lines spewed volatile fuel for the gas turbines into the bilges.
Chemists have determined that the Agrimony possesses a particular volatile oil, and yields nearly five per cent.
This is a volatile alkaloid which is not poisonous, and is thought to be almost identical with ammonia.
I invented for the same purpose the ether spray process, in which a benumbing cold was produced by projecting a volatile liquid like ether or amylene, or a stream of compressed gas .
First the Calamine ore must be roasted to remove volatile antagonists.
Besides containing citric and malic acids, the Raspberry affords a volatile oil of aromatic flavour, with crystallisable sugar, pectin, colouring matter, mucus, some mineral salts, and water.
The chemical constituents of the Strawberry are--a peculiar volatile aroma, sugar, mucilage, pectin, citric and malic acids in equal parts, woody fibre, and water.
Alex do as Holcroft instructed with a volatile provision of his own: He had six hundred sixty-odd thousand dollars coming to him from Dunstone, Limited, and he expected to collect it.
Old cheese ameliorates Apples if eaten when crude, probably by reason of the volatile alkali, or ammonia of the cheese neutralizing the acids of the Apple.
The volatile temperament of the French frontiersmen bubbled over with enthusiasm at the first hint of something new, and revolutionary in which they might be expected to take part.
The peel furnishes hesperidin, a volatile oil, gallic acid, and a bitter principle.
The experiments have been made with the vapors of two very volatile liquids, namely, sulphuric ether and hydride of amyl.