The Collaborative International Dictionary
Oxidize \Ox"i*dize\ ([o^]ks"[i^]*d[imac]z), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Oxidized ([o^]ks"[i^]*d[imac]zd); p. pr. & vb. n. Oxidizing.] (Chem.) To combine with oxygen, or subject to the action of oxygen, or of an oxidizing agent. Specifically:
To combine with oxygen or with more oxygen; to add oxygen to; as, to oxidize nitrous acid so as to form nitric acid.
To remove hydrogen from (anything), as by the action of oxygen; as, to oxidize alcohol so as to form aldehyde.
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To subject to the action of oxygen or of an oxidizing agent, so as to bring to a higher grade, as an -ous compound to an -ic compound; as, to oxidize mercurous chloride to mercuric chloride.
Note: In certain cases to oxidize is identical with to acidify; for, in nearly all cases, the more oxygen a substance contains the more nearly does it approximate to acid qualities; thus, by oxidation many elements, as sulphur, nitrogen, carbon, chromium, manganese, etc., pass into compounds which are acid anhydrides, and thus practically in the acid state.
Wiktionary
vb. (present participle of oxidize English)
WordNet
Wikipedia
Usage examples of "oxidizing".
The quantity of iron peroxidised is determined by taking a known quantity of ferrous salt, oxidizing with a weighed sample of nitrate, and then determining the residual ferrous iron by titration with bichromate or permanganate of potassium solution.
It is chiefly used as an oxidizing agent in volumetric work, being sharp in its reactions and easily detected in minute quantities.
It is separated by dissolving the hydrates in hydrochloric acid, and oxidizing with chlorine water.
Silicon is readily converted into silica by the action of oxidizing agents.
Initial blackness can also be ensured by oxidizing 21 per cent of the ferrous-sulphate without adding the extra acid necessary to the formation of a ferric salt.
There was a smell of burning, like autumn ash: that was asteroid dust, she knew, leaked into their hab environment despite all their precautions, thin fine stuff that was slowly oxidizing, burning in the air.
Maura smelled burning metal where the hull had been exposed to space, and a hint of wood smoke: oxidizing moondust.
No crumbling girders, no burnt-out boilers oxidizing their way to a rusty red heaven, no metal parts at all save the bright steel ribbons of the tracks reaching out interminably fore and aft.
Some very early life forms on Earth got their energy by oxidizing iron.
Without the red phosphorus, it takes more friction that most mortals can produce to get a rise out of the match head, which characteristically contains antimony sulfide, an oxidizing agent such as potassium chlorate, and sulfur or charcoal.
He would sell everything humdrum and buy ancient tools at barn auctions and flea markets, until the shop resembled a nineteenth-century inventor's workroom and he could sit inhaling a combination of machine oil and wood and oxidizing iron, his favorite smells.
Its foods are, perhaps oxidizing agents instead of reducing agents.