What is "combining weight"

Combine \Com*bine"\, v. i.

1. To form a union; to agree; to coalesce; to confederate.

   You with your foes combine, And seem your own destruction to design
   --Dryden.

   So sweet did harp and voice combine.
   --Sir W. Scott.

2. To unite by affinity or natural attraction; as, two substances, which will not combine of themselves, may be made to combine by the intervention of a third.

3. (Card Playing) In the game of casino, to play a card which will take two or more cards whose aggregate number of pips equals those of the card played.

   Combining weight (Chem.), that proportional weight, usually referred to hydrogen as a standard, and for each element fixed and exact, by which an element unites with another to form a distinct compound. The combining weights either are identical with, or are multiples or submultiples of, the atomic weight. See Atomic weight, under Atomic, a.

n. (context chemistry dated English) The proportional weight, usually referred to hydrogen as a standard, and for each element a fixed multiple of the atomic weight, by which an element unites with another to form a distinct compound.

n. the atomic weight of an element that has the same combining capacity as a given weight of another element; the standard is 8 for oxygen [syn: equivalent, equivalent weight, eq]