The Gutenberg Webster's Unabridged Dictionary: Section X, Y, and Z

Part 1

X (ks). X, the twenty-fourth letter of the English alphabet, has three sounds; a compound nonvocal sound (that of ks), as in wax; a compound vocal sound (that of gz), as in example; and, at the beginning of a word, a simple vocal sound (that of z), as in xanthic. See Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 217, 270, 271.

The form and value of X are from the Latin X, which is from the Greek , which in some Greek alphabets had the value of ks, though in the one now in common use it represents an aspirated sound of k.

Xanth*am"ide (?), n. [Xanthic + amide.] (Chem.) An amido derivative of xanthic acid obtained as a white crystalline substance, C2H5O.CS.NH2; -- called also xanthogen amide.

Xan"thate (?), n. [See Xanthic.] (Chem.) A salt of xanthic; a xanthogenate.

||Xan`the*las"ma (?), n. [NL.; Gr. xanqo`s yellow + 'e`lasma a metal plate.] (Med.) See Xanthoma.

Xan"thi*an (?), a. Of or pertaining to Xanthus, an ancient town on Asia Minor; -- applied especially to certain marbles found near that place, and now in the British Museum.

Xan"thic (?), a. [Gr. xanqo`s yellow: cf. F. xanthique.]

1. Tending toward a yellow color, or to one of those colors, green being excepted, in which yellow is a constituent, as scarlet, orange, etc.

2. (Chem.) (a) Possessing, imparting, or producing a yellow color; as, xanthic acid. (b) Of or pertaining to xanthic acid, or its compounds; xanthogenic. (c) Of or pertaining to xanthin.

Xanthic acid (Chem.), a heavy, astringent, colorless oil, C2H5O.CS.SH, having a pungent odor. It is produced by leading carbon disulphide into a hot alcoholic solution of potassium hydroxide. So called from the yellow color of many of its salts. Called also xanthogenic acid. -- Xanthic colors (Bot.), those colors (of flowers) having some tinge of yellow; -- opposed to cyanic colors. See under Cyanic.

Xan"thide (?), n. [See Xantho-.] (Chem.) A compound or derivative of xanthogen. [Archaic]

||Xan*thid"i*um (?), n.; pl. Xanthidia (#). [NL., fr. Gr. xanqo`s yellow.] (Bot.) A genus of minute unicellular algæ of the desmids. These algæ have a rounded shape and are armed with glochidiate or branched aculei. Several species occur in ditches, and others are found fossil in flint or hornstone.

Xan"thin (?), n. [Gr. xanqo`s yellow.]

1. (Physiol. Chem.) A crystalline nitrogenous body closely related to both uric acid and hypoxanthin, present in muscle tissue, and occasionally found in the urine and in some urinary calculi. It is also present in guano. So called from the yellow color of certain of its salts (nitrates).

2. (Chem.) A yellow insoluble coloring matter extracted from yellow flowers; specifically, the coloring matter of madder. [Formerly written also xanthein.]

3. (Chem.) One of the gaseous or volatile decomposition products of the xanthates, and probably identical with carbon disulphide. [Obs.]

Xan"thi*nine (?), n. [Gr. xanqo`s yellow + quinine.] (Chem.) A complex nitrogenous substance related to urea and uric acid, produced as a white powder; -- so called because it forms yellow salts, and because its solution forms a blue fluorescence like quinine.

||Xan"thi*um (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. xa`nqion a plant used for dyeing the hair yellow, said to be the Xanthium strumarium, from xanqo`s yellow.] (Bot.) A genus of composite plants in which the scales of the involucre are united so as to form a kind of bur; cocklebur; clotbur.

Xan"tho- (?). A combining form from Gr. xanqo`s yellow; as in xanthocobaltic salts. Used also adjectively in chemistry.

Xan`tho*car"pous (?), a. [Xantho- + Gr. karpo`s fruit.] (Bot.) Having yellow fruit.

||Xan*thoch"ro*i (?), n. pl. [NL. See Xanthochroic.] (Ethnol.) A division of the Caucasian races, comprising the lighter-colored members.

The Xanthochroi, or fair whites, . . . are the prevalent inhabitants of Northern Europe, and the type may be traced into North Africa, and eastward as far as Hindostan.

Tylor.

Xan`tho*chro"ic (?), a. [Xantho- + Gr. chro`a color.] (Ethnol.) Having a yellowish or fair complexion; of or pertaining to the Xanthochroi.

Xan`tho*don"tous (?), a. [Xantho- + Gr. 'odoy`s, 'odo`ntos, tooth.] Having yellow teeth.

Xan"tho*gen (?), n. [Xantho- + -gen.] (Chem.) (a) The hypothetical radical supposed to be characteristic of xanthic acid. [Archaic] (b) Persulphocyanogen. [R.]

Xan"tho*gen*ate (?), n. (Chem.) A salt of xanthic acid.

Xan`tho*gen"ic (?), a. [See Xantho- , and -gen.] (Chem.) Producing a yellow color or compound; xanthic. See Xanthic acid, under Xanthic.

Part 2

||Xan*tho"ma (?), n. [NL. See Xantho-, and -oma.] (Med.) A skin disease marked by the development or irregular yellowish patches upon the skin, especially upon the eyelids; -- called also xanthelasma.

Xan"tho*phane (?), n. [Xantho- + Gr. fai`nein to show.] (Physiol.) The yellow pigment present in the inner segments of the retina in animals. See Chromophane.

Xan"tho*phyll (?), n. [Xantho- + Gr. fy`llon leaf.] (Bot.) A yellow coloring matter found in yellow autumn leaves, and also produced artificially from chlorophyll; -- formerly called also phylloxanthin.

Xan"tho*pous (?), a. [Xantho- + Gr. poy`s, podo`s, foot.] (Bot.) Having a yellow stipe, or stem.

Xan`tho*pro*te"ic (?), a. (Physiol. Chem.) Pertaining to, or derived from, xanthoprotein; showing the characters of xanthoprotein; as, xanthoproteic acid; the xanthoproteic reaction for albumin.

Xan`tho*pro"te*in (?), n. [Xantho- + protein.] (Physiol. Chem.) A yellow acid substance formed by the action of hot nitric acid on albuminous or proteid matter. It is changed to a deep orange-yellow color by the addition of ammonia.

Xan`tho*puc"cine (?), n. [Xantho- + puccoon + -ine.] (Chem.) One of three alkaloids found in the root of the yellow puccoon (Hydrastis Canadensis). It is a yellow crystalline substance, and resembles berberine.

Xan`tho*rham"nin (?), n. [Xantho- + NL. Rhamnus, the generic name of the plant bearing Persian berries.] (Chem.) A glucoside extracted from Persian berries as a yellow crystalline powder, used as a dyestuff.

Xan`tho*rhi"za (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. xanqo`s yellow + "ri`za root.] (Bot.) A genus of shrubby ranunculaceous plants of North America, including only the species Xanthorhiza apiifolia, which has roots of a deep yellow color; yellowroot. The bark is intensely bitter, and is sometimes used as a tonic.

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||Xan`tho*rhœ"a (?), n. [NL., from Gr. xanqo`s yellow + "rei^n to flow.] (Bot.) A genus of endogenous plants, native to Australia, having a thick, sometimes arborescent, stem, and long grasslike leaves. See Grass tree.

Xan"those (?), n. (Chem.) An orange-yellow substance found in pigment spots of certain crabs.

||Xan*tho"sis (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. xanqo`s yellow.] (Med.) The yellow discoloration often observed in cancerous tumors.

Xan`tho*sper"mous (?), a. [Xantho- + Gr. spe`rma sperm.] (Bot.) Having yellow seeds.

Xan"thous (?), a. [Gr. xanqo`s yellow.] Yellow; specifically (Ethnol.), of or pertaining to those races of man which have yellowish, red, auburn, or brown hair.

Xan*thox"y*lene (?), n. [See Xanthoxylum.] (Chem.) A liquid hydrocarbon of the terpene series extracted from the seeds of a Japanese prickly ash (Xanthoxylum pipertium) as an aromatic oil.

||Xan*thox"y*lum (?), n. [NL., from Gr. xanqo`s yellow + xy`lon wood.] (Bot.) A genus of prickly shrubs or small trees, the bark and rots of which are of a deep yellow color; prickly ash.

The commonest species in the Northern United States is Xanthoxylum Americanum. See Prickly ash, under Prickly.

Xe"bec (z"bk), n. [Sp. jabegue, formerly spelt xabeque, or Pg. xabeco; both from Turk. sumbeki a kind of Asiatic ship; cf. Per. sumbuk, Ar. sumbk a small ship.] (Naut.) A small three-masted vessel, with projecting bow stern and convex decks, used in the Mediterranean for transporting merchandise, etc. It carries large square sails, or both. Xebecs were formerly armed and used by corsairs.

Xeme (zm), n. (Zoöl.) An Arctic fork-tailed gull (Xema Sabinii).

||Xen`e*la"si*a (?), n. [NL., from Gr. xenhlasi`a expulsion of strangers.] (Gr. Antiq.) A Spartan institution which prohibited strangers from residing in Sparta without permission, its object probably being to preserve the national simplicity of manners.

||Xe"ni*um (?), n.; pl. Xenia (#). [L., from Gr. xe`nion gift to a guest, fr. xe`nos guest.] (Class. Antiq.) A present given to a guest or stranger, or to a foreign ambassador.

||Xen`o*do*chi"um (?), n. [LL., fr. L. xenodochium a building for the reception of strangers, Gr. &?; .] (a) (Class. Antiq.) A house for the reception of strangers. (b) In the Middle Ages, a room in a monastery for the reception and entertainment of strangers and pilgrims, and for the relief of paupers. [Called also Xenodocheion.]

Xe*nod"o*chy (?), n. [Gr. &?;.] Reception of strangers; hospitality. [R.]

Xe*nog"a*my (?), n. [Gr. xe`nos strange, foreign + &?; marriage.] (Bot.) Cross fertilization.

Xen`o*gen"e*sis (?), n. [Gr. xe`nos a stranger + E. genesis.] (Biol.) (a) Same as Heterogenesis. (b) The fancied production of an organism of one kind by an organism of another. Huxley.

Xen`o*ge*net"ic (?), a. (Biol.) Of or pertaining to xenogenesis; as, the xenogenetic origin of microzymes. Huxley.

Xen`o*ma"ni*a (?), n. [Gr. xe`nos strange + E. mania.] A mania for, or an inordinate attachment to, foreign customs, institutions, manners, fashions, etc. [R.] Saintsbury.

Part 3

||Xen"o*mi (?), n. pl. [NL., from Gr. xe`nos strange.] (Zoöl.) A suborder of soft-rayed fresh-water fishes of which the blackfish of Alaska (Dallia pectoralis) is the type.

||Xe*nop`te*ryg"i*i (?), n. pl. [NL., from Gr. xe`nos strange + &?;, dim. of &?; a wing.] (Zoöl.) A suborder of fishes including Gobiesox and allied genera. These fishes have soft-rayed fins, and a ventral sucker supported in front by the pectoral fins. They are destitute of scales.

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