X-RAY • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of X-ray

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/ˈɛksrˌeɪ/ Listen

noun

X-ray, X ray n. (Physics) Originally, any of the rays produced when cathode rays strike upon surface of a solid (as a copper target or the wall of the vacuum tube); now defined as electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength of 0.1 to 10 nanometers. X-rays are noted for their penetration of many opaque substances, as wood and flesh, their action on photographic plates, and their fluorescent effects. They were called X rays by their discoverer, W. K. Röntgen, but were also referred to for some time as Roentgen rays. The term X-ray has become the most common designation. They also ionize gases, but cannot be reflected, or polarized, or deflected by a magnetic field. They are used in examining objects opaque to visible light, as for imaging bones or other structures inside the human body, and for detecting flaws in metal objects, such as in welds.

verb

X-ray, X ray v. t. To examine by means of X-rays; to irradiate with X-rays.

See images of 'X-ray'

Etymology of 'X-ray'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"X-ray" Quotes from Famous Books

... know about luck, eh? Say, there was a time when I banked heavy on such things as four-leaf clovers, and the humpback touch, and dodgin' ladders, and keepin' my fingers crossed after gettin' an X-ray stare. The longer I watch the game, though, the less I think of the luck proposition as a chart for explainin' why some gets in on the ground floor, while others are dropped through ...

— Odd Numbers - Being Further Chronicles of Shorty McCabe • Sewell Ford

... minutely for signs of flaws, using a small portable X-ray fluoroscope to see the interior of the metal. Each joint seemed perfect. They retired, satisfied that everything was ready for the work ...

— The Black Star Passes • John W Campbell

... theories of matter, hoping to find in these illuminating points of view, he tells us, some analogy to his almost hopelessly complex problems of life and heredity. Even those medical men whose interest is entirely commercial appreciate the convenience of the X-ray and the importance of correctly interpreting the pathological effects of the rays of radio-activity and ultra-violet light. One finds a great geologist in collaboration with his distinguished colleague in physics, and from the latter comes a contribution on the rigidity of the ...

— College Teaching - Studies in Methods of Teaching in the College • Paul Klapper

... was lucky. He'd been in the sick bay with a sprained ankle when the Rats hit, sitting in the X-ray room. The shot that had knocked out the port engine had knocked him unconscious, but the shielded walls of the X-ray room had saved him from the blast of radiation that had cut down the crew in the rear of the ship. He'd come to in time to see the Rat cruisers ...

— The Measure of a Man • Randall Garrett

... movement, but only with the unloading at the terminus. In my experience, the patient reports that he feels the fecal mass in the lower part of the rectum, but that he is unable to expel it. Examination by finger or by X-ray reveals a mass in the rectal pouch. If there is a piling up of freight further back on the line, it is only because the unloading process has been ...

— Outwitting Our Nerves - A Primer of Psychotherapy • Josephine A. Jackson and Helen M. Salisbury

More quotes...