nuclearadj.adv.n.
/ˈnjuːklɪə/, U.S. /ˈn(j)ukliər//ˈnjuːkjᵿlə/, U.S. /ˈn(j)ukjələr/ (frequently rendered in written form as nucular ; compare nucular adj.2) has been criticized in usage guides since at least the mid 20th cent. (see for example Webster (1961) at cited word), although it is now commonly given as a variant in modern dictionaries. See Webster's Dict. Eng. Usage (1989) 673/1 for a discussion of possible origins of the pronunciation. A. adj. (and adv.)
I. Of or relating to a nucleus, centre, or core.
1.
a. Of or relating to a nucleus (in various technical senses).
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > central condition or position > [adjective] > of the nature of a nucleus
nuclear1822
nucleal1840
nucleary1849
1822 S. Hibbert Descr. Shetland Islands Prelim. Ess. 28 In these [crystals], if the particles be assumed as spherical, the compound attraction of a number of them, not exceeding twelve, prevailing over the influence of a fluid menstruum, meet under the nuclear form of a hexahedron.
1851 T. H. Huxley in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 141 590 Cuvier calls the ganglionic surface ventral, the opposite dorsal, the nuclear end anterior, the opposite posterior.
1865 C. B. Mansfield Theory of Salts 120 The hydrocarbon is conjugated to the Oxygen of the nuclear or prostylobasic water.
1874 A. E. Verrill Rep. Invertebr. Animals Vineyard Sound 349 The first three or nuclear whorls are smooth; some of the succeeding ones usually have numerous vertical costæ.
1875 Galaxy May 702/2 This last substance has the power..of exerting a nuclear action, by means of which the fresh portions of precipitated metal adhere to that which has already been formed.
1879 A. Winchell Syllabus Courses of Lect. & Instr. Gen. Geol. 10 Surface exposures of Archæan rocks... The great nuclear area in British America.
1891 Edinb. Rev. Oct. 336 A shaft was, at some remote epoch, sunk downward [into a grave-mound] towards the expected nuclear hoard.
1917 Man 17 130 One notes on the thumb a loop, with a tendency for the inner or nuclear lines to be arranged in a parallel series.
1947 Jrnl. Paleontol. 21 576 (heading) Nuclear whorls of Heminautilus etheringtoni Durham.
1955 B. C. L. Kemp Elem. Org. Chem. (new ed.) xix. 258 Mention should be made of the diamines which contain two primary nuclear amino-groups.
1972 Proc. Royal Soc. B. 180 232 The fragmentation ions..showed the presence of one double bond in the nuclear part of the molecule.
b. Astronomy. Of, relating to, or designating the nucleus of a celestial object.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > heavenly body > [adjective] > having, constituting, or forming a nucleus
nuclear1833
1833 J. F. W. Herschel in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 123 413 (table) A nuclear mass which seems resolvable.
1863 T. H. Safford Catal. Standard Polar & Clock Stars 326 There is good evidence that the true nucleus [of a comet]..was concealed from view by a surrounding nebulous atmosphere sufficiently dense to present a nuclear aspect.
1877 in G. F. Chambers Handbk. Descr. Astron. (ed. 3) i. iii. 57 There appeared a black, well-defined nuclear spot,..as large as Mercury.
1881 R. A. Proctor Poetry of Astron. i. 40 Inferring that the nuclear parts of the sun are exceedingly dense.
1917 Science 25 May 543/2 The nuclear stars of the planetary nebulæ.
1964 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 52 560 (caption) A young spiral nebula, M101, of type Sc. The arms are clearly defined... The central nuclear region is very small.
1978 J. M. Pasachoff & M. L. Kutner University Astron. xxiii. 569 The current picture that we have of our own galaxy..is that around the centre is a nuclear bulge about 2000 parsecs in radius, with the galactic nucleus at its midst.
c. Biology. Of, relating to, or designating the nucleus of a cell; (also) †having a cell nucleus, nucleated (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > substance > cell > cell organelle or contents > [adjective] > having nucleus
nucleated1809
nuclear1846
nucleate1846
nucular1943
the world > life > biology > substance > cell > cell organelle or contents > [adjective] > having nucleus > of or like nucleus
nucleoid1855
nucleary1881
nuclear1882
1846 Dublin Q. Jrnl. Med. Sci. 2 93 In place of a molecule of bone restored for one removed, we find cytoblasts, a nucleolated nuclear cell.
1861 H. Macmillan Footnotes from Nature 31 Cells, containing granular matter arranged around a bright red nuclear body.
1874 W. I. Burnett tr. C. T. E. von Siebold Anat. Invertebrata (new ed.) 351 The nuclear appearance is due, sometimes to a depression in the body,..sometimes to a plastic membrane lying about one of the spinous processes,..all made prominent by the refraction of the light.
1882 S. H. Vines tr. J. von Sachs Text-bk. Bot. (ed. 2) 582 They [sc. the synergidæ] are the product of a nuclear division and cell-formation.
1908 Bot. Gaz. 45 149 The nuclear part of the sperm finds or breaks an opening into the egg nucleus.
1920 L. Doncaster Introd. Study Cytol. ii. 17 It is from the chromatin that the bodies called chromosomes, which play a great part in nuclear division, are formed.
a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) II. 997 The amount of genuine living matter—the formative material, whether nuclear or nuclear and cytoplasmic together—is never large.
1960 D. C. Braungart & R. Buddeke Introd. Animal Biol. (ed. 5) xx. 365 There appears to be at present good evidence that some types of inheritance occur which cannot be explained entirely by the nuclear genes.
1989 E. Lawrence Guide Mod. Biol. vii. 218 On the nucleoplasmic face of the nuclear membrane is the nuclear lamina, a meshwork of protein filaments.
2000 D. D'Souza Virtue of Prosperity viii. 202 In early 1997, using a technique called somatic cell nuclear transfer, Ian Wilmut and his medical team announced the successful cloning of a sheep named Dolly.
d. Medicine. Of, relating to or involving a nucleus of the central nervous system. Also: of or relating to the nucleus pulposus of an intervertebral disc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > nervous system > substance of nervous system > [adjective] > nucleus
internuclear1878
nuclear1881
1881 Proc. Royal Soc. 33 19 The nuclear masses are traversed throughout by the fine non-fasciculated nerve fibrils.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VI. 811 Nuclear palsy is characterised by bilateral..atrophy of the tongue.
1955 Arch. Dis. Childhood 30 237 (title) Nuclear agenesis: Mobius' syndrome: the congenital facial diplegia syndrome.
1967 Jrnl. Bone & Joint Surg. 49B 402 Smith and Brown's basic idea of nuclear removal by injection remains an attractive one.
2003 Jrnl. Small Animal Pract. 43 439 The outcome of dogs with annular protrusions was significantly worse compared to the outcome of dogs with nuclear extrusions.
2.
a. Constituting a source or centre in or around which something develops or is organized; pivotal, seminal, original. Also: representing that which is central in importance; essential, basic. Cf. nucleal adj. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > causation > basis or foundation > [adjective]
fundamental1588
primal1619
groundinga1641
radical1648
radicative1657
ultimate1659
substrated1663
substrate1678
foundational1683
principial1699
basic1846
basal1866
substratal1881
nuclear1912
gut1964
blue skies1985
1874 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 3 195 The Agaw migration or conquest must have preceded the Egyptians, but there was an earlier member in all the nuclear regions, still identificable, ethnologically or linguistically, in the Nilotic region.
1912 Housemaster's Lett. 91 You will forgive me if I tell you what I consider the nuclear fault underlying all this writing.
1921 Jrnl. Royal Anthropol. Inst. 51 53 The lagoon islands were overrun..by a swarm whose doctrines still centred about Nuclear Polynesia.
1940 H. G. Wells All aboard for Ararat ii. 82 I must look round to find those nuclear men who are needed to carry through the next revolution.
1963 Field Archaeol. (Ordnance Surv.) (ed. 4) 109 The idea of late ‘nuclear’ forts is thus in abeyance for the time being and we are required to regard the summit ring-works alone as the final phase of the fortification of the side.
1989 Times Lit. Suppl. 9 June 644/4 He was catering for a largish nuclear reading public.
b. Psychoanalysis. [After German Kerncomplex (1908).] Central to the development of the sexual components of the ego; relating to or constituting the emotional nucleus of a neurosis, esp. the Oedipus complex.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > theory of psychoanalysis > theories of Freud > child's desire for parent > [adjective] > central to development
nuclear1916
1913 C. G. Jung in 17th Internat. Congr. Med. xii. 67 The unconscious existence of manifold phantasies, which have their final root in the infantile past and turn around the so-called ‘Kern-complex’, or nucleus-complex, which may be qualified in male individuals as the Œdipus-complex and in females as the Electra-complex.]
1916 B. M. Hinkle tr. C. G. Jung Psychol. of Unconscious ii. iv. 195 Taken at the roots in the case of our patients, the ‘nuclear complex’ (Freud) reveals itself as the incest problem.
1925 A. Strachey & J. Strachey tr. S. Freud Case Obsessional Neurosis in Coll. Papers III. 345 The formation of that complex which deserves to be called the nuclear complex of the neuroses. It is the complex which comprises the child's earliest impulses, alike tender and hostile, towards its parents and brothers and sisters, after its curiosity has been awakened.
1968 E. Glover Birth of Ego i. 17 If one were prepared not to stick too slavishly to the idea of a fixed nuclear system one could put the psychic situation of the Oedipus complex in clearer perspective.
1987 J. A. McArdle Sin Embargo 285 Nuclear psychopaths preached the old time religion and championed the Unborn.
c. Linguistics and Phonetics. Being or constituting a linguistic or phonetic nucleus. Cf. nucleus n. 12.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > [adjective] > specific types or features of linguistic analysis
paradigmatic1891
realizational1904
non-distinctive1916
principled1919
binary1921
over-differentiated1927
marked1933
unmarked1933
isomorphic1937
nuclear1937
contrastive1940
metalinguistic1941
metalingual1942
componential1947
linear1955
rewrite1960
unordered1960
taxonomic1962
non-binary1971
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > intonation, pitch, or stress > [adjective] > accent > stressed > with respect to group
subtonic1827
pretonic1864
post-tonic1880
protonic1890
nuclear1937
prestress1941
post-nuclear1944
pre-nuclear1952
internuclear1958
1937 Harvard Jrnl. Asiatic Stud. 2 148 The multitude of Chinese relationship terms can be reduced to four fundamental classes, namely, nuclear terms, basic modifiers, referential modifiers, and vocatives. Nuclear terms..are independent of modifiers. Each nuclear term possesses a primary meaning and one or more secondary meanings.
1941 Language 17 224 In the structure of the syllable vowels are nuclear, consonants marginal.
1949 E. A. Nida Morphol. (ed. 2) iv. 84 A nuclear structure consists of or contains the nucleus... In the word formal the nuclear element is form- and the peripheral element -al.
1966 G. N. Leech Eng. in Advertising v. 48 The italicised portion represents a nuclear syllable.
1990 Appl. Linguistics 11 190 Once the nuclear tone of an utterance has been identified, a pitch-change implies a new tone unit.
d. Sociology. Of or relating to the nuclear family (see Compounds 1); forming a basic social unit.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinship group > family > [adjective]
familial1843
nuclear1949
1949 P. Mayer Lineage Princ. in Gusii Soc. vii. 17 According to Gusii ideas, membership of the nuclear lineage and of the homestead group ought properly to coincide.
1963 Brit. Jrnl. Sociol. 14 22 The term in most general use is nuclear lineage, signifying those lineage members who live close together under the authority of the senior man.
1970 G. Greer Female Eunuch 207 The nuclear household was certainly typical of urban households.
1982 William & Mary Q. 39 70 A substantial majority of households were nuclear at that moment in time.
1989 M. Amis London Fields viii. 125 ‘I too have a little boy... My wife Hope and I have been married for fifteen years.’ ‘Nuclear,’ said Nicola. ‘That's not so common any more. How romantic. Well done.’
II. Relating to atomic nuclei.
3. gen. Of, relating to, or involving an atomic nucleus or atomic nuclei. Also: with or by atomic nuclei.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > [adjective]
non-nuclear1870
nuclear1914
the world > matter > chemistry > atomic chemistry > [adjective] > relating to nuclei
nuclear1914
nucleonic1946
the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > [adjective] > relating to nucleonics
nuclear1914
nucleonic1946
the world > matter > chemistry > atomic chemistry > [adjective] > relating to nuclei > relating to study of
nuclear1914
1914 London, Edinb., & Dublin Philos. Mag. 6th Ser. 27 499 Geiger and Marsden..succeeded in calculating the nuclear charge for a few substances.
1933 Discovery Apr. 106/2 With this generator, it is hoped to produce currents of the order of 1 milliampere at 5 to 10 million volts, and to insert a large vacuum tube between the sphere and ground for nuclear bombardment.
1961 G. R. Choppin Exper. Nucl. Chem. i. 4 Nuclear transformations are on the order of 105 to 106 more energetic than chemical reactions on an individual molecular or atomic basis.
1961 G. R. Choppin Exper. Nucl. Chem. iii. 27 Nuclear scattering is a more important factor for electrons that it is for heavy particles.
1969 Times 20 Feb. 17/5 A single type of nuclear reaction in the sun is thought to bathe each square centimetre of the earth's surface with a flux of 10 million neutrinos every second.
1998 New Scientist 15 Aug. 29/1 More exotic forms of nuclear matter may exist, such as fields of quark–antiquark pairs called pions.
4. Designating fields of study concerned with the atomic nucleus and its applications; (also) designating experts in or students of these fields.See also specific compounds at nuclear atom n. (a) at Compounds 2a.
ΚΠ
1931 Science 24 Apr. 441/2 Lectures in physics at the University of Michigan... Professor W. Pauli, University of Zurich. Problems of Nuclear Physics.
1945 H. D. Smyth Gen. Acct. Devel. Atomic Energy Mil. Purposes 247 The first man-made atomic explosion, the outstanding achievement of nuclear science, was achieved at 5:30 a.m. of that day.
1945 Science 28 Dec. 672/2 (heading) A proposal for the formation of a World Association of physicists or nuclear scientists.
1956 A. H. Compton Atomic Quest 7 Nuclear research as a subject for wartime study.
1972 Science 22 Sept. 1081 Groups of Japanese and German nuclear researchers..sought permission from the AEC to visit the Idaho installation.
1990 Metals & Materials July 4446/1 Nuclear metallurgists..have been thinking for a long time that there was a real need for a book covering the metallurgy of all the major reactor systems.
5. Relating to, connected with, or using energy from the fission or fusion of atomic nuclei.
a. Employing nuclear energy as a source of propulsive power, electricity, etc.; (of power) produced from nuclear energy.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > nuclear fission > nuclear fuel > [adjective]
atomic1913
atomic-powered1945
nuclear1945
nuclear-powered1947
atom-powered1949
1945 Engin. Jrnl. 28 757/1 In the Arctic or Antarctic regions..the difficulty of transporting other fuels..outweigh[s] the disadvantages and difficulties of operating and maintaining a nuclear power plant.
1957 Jane's Fighting Ships 1957–58 50 It was officially stated in the 1957–58 Navy estimates that progress is being made with the design of the nuclear submarine ‘Dreadnought’.
1959 R. E. Smith (title) Underground mining with nuclear explosives.
1960 Aeroplane 98 772/2 During its development the first nuclear aircraft will inevitably have alternative chemical propulsion.
1979 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 17 May 14/2 Nuclear electricity still remains two or three times as expensive as oil.
1986 Dædalus Summer 100 How does one react in an informed way..to a plan for siting a power plant nearby, whether nuclear or not?
2001 Wall St. Jrnl. 17 Sept. r15/2 Exelon and its partners are building a new kind of nuclear generator, called a pebble-bed reactor.
b. Of a weapon: deriving its destructive force from the rapid, uncontrolled release of nuclear energy.Earliest in nuclear bomb.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > [adjective] > nuclear
nuclear1945
1945 [see nuclear bomb n. at Compounds 2a].
1954 Commonweal 1 Oct. 621/2 It has been suggested that the nuclear warhead may be small enough to be fitted to an air-to-ground rocket.
1956 Newsweek 3 Sept. 17/2 A nuclear device can mean either hydrogen or atomic.
1993 Fortune 8 Feb. 92/3 The U.S. would also need a deeper reduction in nuclear arms than those made in the recent Start talks.
2014 Asian Surv. 54 185 Pakistan has been heavily targeted by U.S. electronic surveillance, amid American worries about the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal.
c. Relating to or involved in the nuclear industry; associated with the use of nuclear energy. Of materials: suitable for use as a source of nuclear energy.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > nuclear fission > [adjective] > relating to nuclear power
atomic1945
nuclear1948
1948 Internat. Organization 2 565 The same considerations apply to the question of the strategic balance to be established in the location of nuclear materials and nuclear reactors between one part of the globe and another.
1962 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 67 696/1 Physical and personnel safeguards for workers in nuclear facilities.
1974 Science 1 Mar. 835/1 Present standards set the maximum permissible radiation does to a nuclear worker at 5 rem per year to the whole body or 15 rem per year to the lungs.
1989 C. Caufield Multiple Exposures (1990) xvii. 167 Every country with a nuclear industry has at least one nuclear regulatory agency.
1992 P. W. Birnie & A. E. Boyle Internat. Law & Environment ix. iv. 367 It is questionable whether the ultra-hazardous category is wide enough to cover all nuclear activities.
2001 Time 12 Nov. 40/2 Nuclear material..is trickling out of the former Soviet Union.
d. Of, relating to, or involving nuclear weapons.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > [adjective] > nuclear > relating to or using
atomic1946
thermonuclear1953
nuclear1954
nuke1976
1954 Commonweal 30 Apr. 83 (heading) Nuclear war: a false dilemma.
1957 Observer 28 July 6/4 To keep the British nuclear deterrent up to date on its present scale in relation to the Soviet defence will cost more and more each year.
1965 H. Kahn On Escalation vi. 297 A nuclear stalemate..exists when the balance of central war forces is such that neither side is capable of making a disarming first strike.
1983 Listener 14 Apr. 3/1 The problem..is not simply that of having enough nuclear hardware to deter an attack from the Soviet Union.
1991 Time 17 June 36/2 The treaty..would reduce their strategic nuclear arsenals 25% to 30%.
2001 Independent 7 Aug. 3/4 They have a unique opportunity to prevent a new nuclear arms race.
e. Relating to or involving the (uncontrolled) release of radioactive materials or of nuclear energy.
ΚΠ
1954 Q. Rev. Biol. 29 95 The patients involved in the two nuclear accidents at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory.
1957 Amer. Econ. Rev. 47 355 (note) An AEC [= Atomic Energy Commission] estimate of the consequences of a nuclear disaster.
1967 Amer. Jrnl. Internat. Law 61 67 Tahiti's Deputy to the French National Assembly..voiced strong opposition to the tests on the grounds of..nuclear pollution of the sea.
1975 Pacific Affairs 48 178 Japan's nuclear-powered merchant ship..was opposed by the fishermen who feared the possibility of nuclear contamination.
1991 N.Y. Times 24 Nov. i. 18/2 The river waters from the north..carry radioactive fallout from the 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl.
f. Envisaged to result from nuclear war, esp. as regards widespread destruction of life and of the environment, as nuclear annihilation, nuclear holocaust, etc. Cf. nuclear winter n. at Compounds 2a.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > war > types of war > [noun] > atomic or nuclear warfare > envisaged result of
nuclear holocaust1954
the world > life > death > killing > slaughter > [noun] > instance of > specific
the (Spanish) Fury1576
Bartholomew1646
Amboyna massacre1654
final solution1947
nuclear holocaust1954
the Shoah1967
1954 N.Y. Times 31 May 12/2 We must continue with our efforts to achieve agreements which will truly be capable of saving the world from nuclear holocaust.
1955 Bull. Atomic Scientists Feb. 53/2 Extinction by a nuclear holocaust is not the only palpable threat to Western civilization.
1958 New Statesman 22 Feb. 217/2 For it is increasingly doubtful whether Britain would accept nuclear annihilation if East Germany with Russian backing, crossed the Elbe.
1975 Polit. Sci. Q. 88 220 The land area over which a tactical nuclear war might be fought would be a nuclear wasteland of substantial proportions.
1991 Chron. Higher Educ. 20 Feb. a10/2 It was in that decade..that Americans had at once to acknowledge the despair arising from Hitler's atrocities and the possibility of nuclear annihilation.
6. to go nuclear: (a) to acquire nuclear weapons; to resort to the use of nuclear weapons; (b) figurative to take the strongest measures available; (also) to become extremely angry.
ΚΠ
1967 Listener 11 May 607/2 The decision of certain powers to go nuclear would have the effect of making endemic regional conflicts totally insoluble.
1970 Sci. Jrnl. Aug. 3/3 It is not the fact that we are going nuclear that should give us pause.
1988 Washington Post 26 June c1/3 America seems ready to go nuclear in its war on drugs.
1989 Newsweek 9 Jan. Don't go nuclear. You can deal with things more rationally.
1991 Economist 21 Dec. 73/2 Mr Hussein might have got away with his invasion had he been able to threaten, credibly, to go nuclear.
2001 M. Blake 24 Karat Schmooze xii. 129 The phone rang. Dave snatched it from its cradle and went nuclear in seconds. ‘What? That is bollocks.’
7. figurative. Having an intensity or power likened to that of a nuclear explosion or nuclear radiation; (slang) very impressive. Also occasionally as adv.
ΚΠ
1973 T. Pynchon Gravity's Rainbow 128 Tents whose lights shone nuclear at twilight, soullike, through the cross-hatched walls, turning canvas to fine gauze.
1990 S. Turow Burden of Proof iii. lxiii. 440 Hot rage, nuclear in its intensity, radiated from Dixon's look.
1991 C. Eddy Stairway to Hell 196/1 Vernon Reid's rarely as note-slashingly nuclear as he was on Ronald Shannon Jackson's early LP's.
1992 A. Maupin Maybe the Moon xx. 235 The Astro Turf lawn shimmered brighter than ever, a glossy, nuclear green.
B. n.
1. Linguistics. A nuclear word. See sense A. 2c. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > [noun] > linguistic unit > core
nuclear1949
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > intonation, pitch, or stress > [noun] > accent > stress accent > stress group > syllables with respect to
subtonic1827
pretone1884
pretonic1892
head1922
nucleus1922
tail1922
peak1935
post-nuclear1944
precontour1945
nuclear1949
tonic1962
1949 E. A. Nida Morphol. (ed. 2) v. 118 There are single-morpheme nuclears, e.g. count, poet.., and multiple-morpheme nuclears, e.g. waiter, hunter.
2.
a. A nuclear weapon.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > [noun] > a particular species of weapon > nuclear
nuclear bomb1945
big boy1946
nuclear weapon1946
atomics1951
deterrent1954
nuke1958
nuclear1959
1959 in Jrnl. Conflict Resol. (1960) 4 456/1 Conceived of in this ‘military’ sense, small-yield nuclears could be employed in limited wars.
1962 Listener 29 Mar. 541/2 What is it that prevents either side from going to nuclears on the battlefield?
1972 Daily Tel. 2 May 16 The current Nato strategy is one of flexible response, implying that both sides will seek to put off firing nuclears until the last possible moment.
1990 Internat. Security 14 163 Because of the types of weapons involved—chemicals, small nuclears, conventional forces—..arms control in the future will be a good deal more complicated.
b. A nuclear-powered submarine.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > war vessel > [noun] > submarine
submarine1889
Holland1899
sub1915
pigboat1921
fish1925
guppy1948
killer submarine1955
snorter1962
nuclear1969
1969 New Scientist 28 Aug. 420/2 One can imagine an enemy submarine lying in wait..to pick up the trail of one of our patrolling ‘nuclears’.
1974 ‘M. Hebden’ Pride of Dolphins i. v. 50 ‘Would you say Nanjizel was a good submariner?’ ‘He'd done his stint in nuclears.’
1996 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 19 June 18 I am over 70, and after 20 years in submarines, five of them nuclears, I have never felt better.
c. Nuclear power, esp. as an energy source.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > nuclear fission > [noun] > energy from heavy elements
atomic power1824
atomic energy1854
nuclear energy1927
nuclear power1945
nuclear1975
1975 Chem. Week 1 Jan. 31/1 President Ford seeks to convert the nation's base-load power capacity to coal and nuclear by 1980, but that has been made all but impossible by recent cutbacks in nuclear construction.
1988 N.Y. Times 2 Oct. iv. 8/2 ‘If coal is going to be banished,’ said Mr. Komanoff, ‘it's setting the way for the ultimate slugfest, between efficiency and renewables on one hand and nuclear on the other.’
1992 Polit. Sci. Q. 107 713 In the face of nuclear's self-inflicted decline, the protest movement also withered rapidly.
Compounds
C1. (In senses A. 1, A. 2.)
Nuclear America n. Cultural Anthropology and Archaeology a region stretching from Mexico southwards to the central Andes, regarded as the main area of pre-Columbian cultural development in the Americas.
ΚΠ
1945 A. L. Kroeber in Jrnl. Royal Anthropol. Inst. 75 19/1 The New World possesses its own heartland of higher civilization, stretching from Central Mexico to somewhat beyond Peru. The axis of this cultural Nuclear America is oriented without reference to that of the ancient Oikoumenê.
1960 Science 8 Jan. 73/3 The name Nuclear America refers to the southern two-thirds of Mexico, all of Central America, and Andean and coastal Columbia, Ecuador, and Peru, with adjacent portions of Bolivia. This was the heartland of native American agriculture.
1986 World Archaeol. 18 146 Throughout Nuclear America, figurines have been considered as symbols of fertility and/or fecundity.
nuclear bag n. Physiology an aggregation of nuclei occurring in the central portion of an intrafusal muscle fibre; usually attributive, esp. in nuclear bag fibre; cf. nuclear chain n.
ΚΠ
1948 Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. 89 157 Each muscle-fibre possesses a non-striated nuclear bag, and to either side of the bag has the appearance of a myotube.
1962 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) B. 245 82 All spindles contain two distinct types of intrafusal muscle fibre, ‘nuclear bag fibres’ and ‘nuclear chain fibres’, which differ in structure and innervation.
1980 Gray's Anat. (ed. 36) vii. 859/1 In nuclear bag fibres the equatorial nuclei are gathered together in a cluster to give a slight expansion of the fibre profile, whereas in the nuclear chain type the nuclei form a single longitudinal row in the centre of the fibre.
nuclear cataract n. Medicine cataract formation affecting the nucleus (central core) of the lens; an instance of this.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of eye > [noun] > cataract
pearla1382
suffusion1398
cataract1547
tay1547
eye-pearl1597
eye-web1657
hypophysis1706
pearl eye1844
gutta opaca1847
nuclear cataract1876
1876 T. Bryant Pract. Surg. (ed. 2) I. viii. 355 Nuclear cataract..is characterised by the presence of a hard yellowish central portion or nucleus of varying size and density.
1976 Ophthalmic Surg. 7 65 Other problems unique to surgery in these eyes are the missed diagnosis of nuclear cataract.
1989 J. A. B. Collier & J. M. Longmore Oxf. Handbk. Clin. Specialties (ed. 2) vi. 504 Nuclear cataracts change the refractive index of the lens and are common in old age.
nuclear chain n. Physiology a longitudinal row of nuclei occupying the centre of an intrafusal muscle fibre; chiefly attributive, esp. in nuclear chain fibre; cf. nuclear bag n.
ΚΠ
1962 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) B. 245 82 All spindles contain two distinct types of intrafusal muscle fibre, ‘nuclear bag fibres’ and ‘nuclear chain fibres’, which differ in structure and innervation.
1976 Jrnl. Neurocytol. 5 425 The production of enucleated spindles is discussed in the light of..the possible use of such a model in discovering the function of nuclear bags and nuclear chains.
1994 Anat. Rec. 240 507 Chicken intrafusal fibers were classified on the basis of their myosin heavy chain (MHC) composition, which was compared to that of mammalian bag and nuclear chain types.
nuclear envelope n. Cell Biology the double membrane, composed of two lipid bilayers, which surrounds the nucleus of a eukaryotic cell; cf. nuclear membrane n. (a).
ΚΠ
1953 N. G. Anderson in Science 15 May 517 (heading) On the nuclear envelope.
1963 Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quantitative Biol. 28 1/1 [In prokaryotes] the nuclear equivalent does not show any chromosome-like structures, is not bounded by a nuclear envelope, and does not divide by mitosis.
1989 B. Alberts et al. Molecular Biol. Cell (ed. 2) xiii. 763 At prometaphase, the nuclear envelope breaks down, allowing the microtubules from each centrosome to enter the nucleus and interact with the chromosomes.
nuclear family n. Sociology the basic family group consisting typically of father, mother, and their dependent children, regarded as a social unit (frequently contrasted with extended family: see extended adj. 3c).
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinship group > family > [noun] > basic family unit
nuclear family1924
nuclearity1959
1924 B. Malinowski in Psyche 4 294 The nuclear family complex..is due to a certain type of social grouping.
1941 G. P. Murdock in Sociometry 4 146 The nuclear or individual family, consisting of father, mother, and children, is universal; no exceptions were found in our 220 societies.
1963 A. Heron Towards Quaker View of Sex 56 This taboo is of social origin, designed to protect the basic unit of society—the ‘nuclear’ family—from disintegration.
1990 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 23 May 23/2 ‘The idea of a nuclear family is a very unnatural way to live,’ Dave said.
nuclear layer n. Histology a layer of neural tissue consisting chiefly of cell bodies (and hence of cell nuclei); spec. either of two such layers of the retina.
ΚΠ
1867 Quain's Elements Anat. (ed. 7) II. 726 The retina..exhibits a series of dissimilar strata... (1st) Externally is the columnar layer; (2nd), in the middle is the granular layer, comprising the external nuclear, the internuclear, the internal nuclear, and the molecular layers; and (3rd) internally is the nervous layer.
1886 New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon Granule-layer of cerebellum, the inner nuclear layer of the grey matter of the cortex of the cerebellum.
1990 Brain 113 1453 In the remainder of the retina a second layer is present between the inner nuclear layer and the outer plexiform layer.
nuclear membrane n. Cell Biology (a) = nuclear envelope n.; (b) (chiefly with distinguishing word) either of the two lipid bilayers that make up the nuclear envelope.
ΚΠ
1852 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 142 568 I have described the tendency of the nuclear membrane to become more and more convex.
1876 Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. 16 169 At the moment when a nucleus is about to divide the nucleoli as well as the nuclear membrane dissolve in the nuclear substance.
1928 E. B. Wilson Cell (ed. 3) i. 85 The studies of Kite and Chambers on living cells by means of the micro-dissection needle seem..to leave no doubt of the reality of the nuclear membrane and also show that it is in some cases of very tough and resistant nature.
2000 Biophysical Jrnl. 79 202 The outer nuclear membrane, endoplasmic reticulum, and mitochondrial membrane ion channels are poorly understood.
nuclear polyhedrosis n. Entomology and Microbiology any form of the insect disease polyhedrosis in which the polyhedral viral inclusions are found in cell nuclei.
ΚΠ
1953 Parasitology 43 178 There exist two entirely different kinds of polyhedral diseases. In one, here referred to as the nuclear type for brevity, polyhedra arise in the cell nuclei and are confined to the fat body, skin and tracheal tissue.]
1953 Parasitology 43 183 The majority of the caterpillars of Phalera bucephala developed only a nuclear polyhedrosis.
1967 K. M. Smith Insect Virol. ii. 9 There is only one nuclear polyhedrosis definitely recorded from the Diptera.
1995 New Scientist 29 Apr. 28/2 A virus which causes a disease called nuclear polyhedrosis, a naturally occurring disease specific to the pest which kills it in days.
nuclear polyhedrosis virus n. Virology any of a subgroup (now the genus Nucleopolyhedrovirus) of baculoviruses that replicate exclusively in cell nuclei and cause nuclear polyhedrosis, esp. in lepidopterans.
ΚΠ
1959 Jrnl. Insect Pathol. 1 67 (title) Mode of multiplication of silkworm nuclear polyhedrosis virus.
1967 K. M. Smith Insect Virol. i. 6 The nuclear polyhedrosis viruses..can be easily prepared in large quantities at low cost.
1996 Ecology 77 2339/1 Outbreaks of gypsy moth are usually terminated by epizootics of a nuclear polyhedrosis virus.
nuclear pore n. Cell Biology any of numerous circular structures in the nuclear envelope which contain an opening which allows the passage of molecules between the nucleus and surrounding cytoplasm.
ΚΠ
1954 Exper. Cell Res. 6 519 The nuclear pores in the midgut appear encircled by rings of heavily absorbing material.
1970 Naturwissenschaft 57 44/2 This value gives either the mass or the number of molecules of a certain substance which is transported from the nucleoplasm into the cytoplasm..per nuclear pore per minute.
1996 Jrnl. Cell Biol. 132 5 The assembly of a nuclear pore requires the prior assembly of a double nuclear membrane.
nuclear pore complex n. Cell Biology the octahedral ring of protein units which forms a nuclear pore.
ΚΠ
1959 M. L. Watson in Jrnl. Biophysical & Biochem. Cytol. 6 148 This approximately cylindrical structure we will refer to as the pore complex.]
1967 Science 7 Apr. 107/3 H. Swift's review of the nuclear envelope and annulate lamellae dealt primarily with: (i) nuclear ‘pore complexes’ and evidence of movement of RNA-containing particles through them.
1997 Bioassays 19 787 Macromolecules, as well as smaller molecules and ions, can cross the nuclear envelope through the nuclear pore complex.
nuclear sap n. Cell Biology (now rare) = nucleoplasm n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > substance > cell > cell organelle or contents > [noun] > nucleus > substances or structures of
nuclein1871
nucleoplast1876
nucleoplasm1882
plastin1883
nebenkern1885
nuclear sap1887
chromosome1889
karyotin1925
chromocentre1926
Barr body1961
1887 Jrnl. Royal Microsc. Soc. 7 979 Linin and paralinin, the substance respectively of the nuclear threads..and of the intermediate matrix or ‘nuclear sap’.
1937 Nature 22 May 889/2 During prophase, in addition to the euchromocentres, the nucleolus and nuclear sap also stain faintly with Feulgen.
1975 Nature 4 Sept. 21/1 Similar preparations were..made from rat liver chromatin but after previous removal of ‘nuclear sap’ which contains soluble nuclear proteins.
nuclear sclerosis n. Medicine hardening of the nucleus of the lens of the eye, as an age-related or pathological process; (also) nuclear cataract, which may result from this.
ΚΠ
1934 Brit. Jrnl. Ophthalmol. 18 401 Physiological and pathological nuclear sclerosis (presbyopia and nuclear cataract).
1962 D. G. Cogan in A. Pirie Lens Metabolism 293 Homogenization and coloration of lens nucleus..frequently is sufficient to cause an opacity that goes by the names of nuclear sclerosis, nuclear cataract, or brown cataract.
2000 Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica 78 506 Included were 30 patients with cataract divided into three sub-groups: cortical cataract, nuclear sclerosis and posterior subcapsular cataract.
nuclear spindle n. Cell Biology = spindle n. 4c.
ΚΠ
1880 C. S. Minot in Amer. Naturalist 14 102 When the nucleus disappears it is replaced by a spindle-shaped body known as the kern-spindel or Anglice nuclear spindle.
1926 J. S. Huxley Ess. Pop. Sci. xviii. 231 Oscar Hertwig..in 1897..enunciated the rule that the nuclear spindle, at cell-division, elongated in the direction of least resistance.
1999 Human Reprod. 11 2496 Implementation of intracytoplasmic sperm injection..in human in-vitro fertilization..has highlighted the need for information about the risk of nuclear spindle damage caused by this procedure.
C2. (In senses A. 3, A. 4, A. 5.)
a.
nuclear age n. the period (from the early 20th cent. to the present) marked by research into the atomic nucleus and nuclear energy, and the development of nuclear weapons; cf. atomic adj. 8.
ΚΠ
1938 H. B. Lemon (title) From Galileo to the nuclear age: an introduction to physics.
1954 Commonweal 10 Dec. 279/2 With that tragic event the facts of the nuclear age were spread out for all to see.
1987 tr. M. Gorbachev Perestroika ii. iii. 144 In the nuclear age, humanity must evolve a new mode of political thought.
nuclear atom n. Physics (a) the atom regarded as having the charges of one sign surrounding a smaller central cluster of those of the opposite sign; (b) (in quot. 1938) an elementary constituent of an atomic nucleus.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > atomic chemistry > [noun] > atoms
atom1555
mote1585
individuum1656
leasting1674
prime1839
nuclear atom1915
the world > matter > chemistry > atomic chemistry > [noun] > nucleus > constituents of
nuclear atom1915
proton1920
neutron1921
nucleon1939
1915 J. W. Nicholson in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) A. 215 103 Prof. Rutherford has made it clear that the nuclear atom is, as a matter of fact, the only basis upon which profitable discussion of the constitution of the atom can really be carried on.
1938 R. W. Lawson tr. G. von Hevesy & F. A. Paneth Man. Radioactivity (ed. 2) ix. 94 The α-particle..a kind of ‘molecule’ of the ‘nuclear atoms’ possessing especial stability, and arising from the union of 2 protons and 2 neutrons.
1985 Science 17 May 858/1 Ernest Rutherford, his professor, used those observations to deduce the structure of the nuclear atom.
nuclear autumn n. a period of substantial cooling and other environmental disruption conjectured to follow a nuclear war, but less severe than a nuclear winter.
ΚΠ
1985 U.S. News & World Rep. 21 Oct. 40/1 It is arguable whether they could produce a nuclear winter, but there is no question they could produce nuclear autumn.
1991 Washington Times 5 Mar. g4/5 By now, the nuclear winter theory has been thoroughly discredited in scientific circles and replaced with a ‘nuclear autumn’..or even a ‘nuclear spring’.
nuclear battery n. an electric battery that utilizes the energy of radioactive decay.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactivity > [noun] > battery utilizing nuclear energy
nuclear battery1955
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > galvanism, voltaism > voltaic or galvanic battery > [noun] > other types of battery
alkaline battery1874
tray-batterya1884
filament battery1919
nickel–iron1920
nuclear battery1955
rechargeable1960
alkaline1980
1955 Jrnl. Brit. Interplanetary Soc. 14 85 The nuclear battery, thermo-couples, photo-electric effects, etc., present further possibilities.
1978 G. C. Hill & J. S. Holman Chem. in Context xi. 142/1 The nuclear battery..uses heat from the radioactive decay of plutonium-238 to generate electricity in a miniature thermopile.
1990 L. Niven & S. Barnes Calif. Voodoo Game xxx. 275 The development of cheap nuclear batteries had made those obsolete.
nuclear bomb n. a bomb that derives its power from nuclear fission or fusion; an atom bomb or thermonuclear bomb.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > [noun] > a particular species of weapon > nuclear
nuclear bomb1945
big boy1946
nuclear weapon1946
atomics1951
deterrent1954
nuke1958
nuclear1959
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > explosive device > [noun] > bomb > atomic or fission
atomic bomb1914
atom bomb1921
superbomb1940
uranium bomb1940
fission bomb1941
A-bomb1945
nuclear bomb1945
plutonium bomb1946
device1954
super1982
1945 Engin. Jrnl. 28 752/1 In view of the source of the energy, the current terms ‘atomic bomb’ and ‘atomic power’ might well be replaced by the more exact terms ‘nuclear bomb’ and ‘nuclear power’.
1958 Times Lit. Suppl. 15 Aug. p. xxxviii/3 After all, scientists put their skill in making nuclear bombs at the service of those who believe in things; so why cannot artists act correspondingly?
2010 E. Lindop Amer. in 1960s iii. 37 After World War II, the U.S. government tested nuclear bombs in remote places in Nevada and Alaska.
nuclear bunker n. an underground shelter designed to protect occupants from the effects of nuclear weapons.
ΚΠ
1981 Peace News 12 June 5/3 (heading) Nuclear bunkers to spread?
1993 B. O'Connor Here comes John 168 It was like it was safe now to leave our nuclear bunkers.
nuclear-capable adj. (of military vehicles and hardware) capable of carrying or delivering nuclear weapons or warheads.
ΚΠ
1963 World Politics 15 607 The stockpiles would be established in accordance with strategic needs in the nuclear-capable forces of NATO.
1974 Greenville (S. Carolina) News 23 Apr. 14/3 They deployed nuclear capable SCUD missile launchers.
1987 Armed Forces May 227/1 As MiG-23s are nuclear-capable they can carry out nuclear attacks against all of these targets and also against naval targets.
nuclear chemist n. a person who specializes in nuclear chemistry.
ΚΠ
1935 Science 13 Sept. 240/2 The nuclear chemist..will transmute and synthesize atoms as his elder brother has done molecules.
1983 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 80 627/1 Let me introduce my colleagues... Frank Asaro and Helen Michel are nuclear chemists at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.
nuclear chemistry n. the branch of science which deals with the chemistry of radioactive materials, esp. with the transformation of chemical elements by (natural or artificial) nuclear processes; (also) the phenomena with which this branch of science is concerned.
ΚΠ
1932 Science 30 Dec. 615/2 (heading) Nuclear chemistry.
1934 Times 12 Dec. 19/3 The new field of nuclear chemistry was opening up with great rapidity.
1947 Sci. News 5 158 The most recent development of all is the production of new elements and isotopes by bombardment of elements with neutrons or other particles, but this so-called nuclear chemistry..is really a branch of physics.
1991 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) B. 334 393 The new stars..possess a newer, richer nuclear chemistry.
nuclear club n. the nations that possess nuclear weapons.
ΚΠ
1957 Christian Sci. Monitor 15 Aug. 1 Nuclear club, those nations which possess nuclear weapons. The only current members are the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union.
1974 Sci. Amer. July 46/1 India became the sixth member of the nuclear club on May 18 by carrying out what it called a ‘peaceful nuclear explosion experiment using an implosion device’.
1995 Internat. Security 20 65 The actual and potential members of the nuclear club today total less than half the number that experts and government officials predicted in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
nuclear disarmament n. the process of reducing in number, or completely eliminating, a country's nuclear weapons.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > peace > pacification > disarmament > [noun] > nuclear disarmament
nuclear disarmament1956
denuclearization1959
zero-zero solution1982
zero-zero option1996
1956 Internat. Organizations 10 143/2 The Soviet representative..wished to get agreement on nuclear disarmament measures before negotiating for controls.
1972 Times 4 Aug. 1/2 He..is..said to have cut the peace symbol (the nuclear disarmament insignia) into the ice with his skates.
1993 Utne Reader Jan. 48/2 The magazine started out in 1982 as a broadsheet for activists participating in the massive New York demonstration for nuclear disarmament.
nuclear disarmer n. a supporter or advocate of nuclear disarmament.
ΚΠ
1958 Economist 22 Mar. 1006/1 The starting point of most current speeches made by the nuclear disarmers is that a hydrogen-bomb war would be an unspeakably terrible thing.
2003 Times 20 Feb. 20/1 The mixture of pacifists, nuclear disarmers and hard-leftists who..dominated the speakers' platform.
nuclear emulsion n. a fine-grained photographic emulsion designed for recording the tracks of subatomic particles, and also used in recording images in techniques such as autoradiography.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > photography > chemicals > [noun] > emulsion or sensitizer
emulsion1840
collodion1851
sensitizer1854
nitrate bath1858
collodio-bromide1864
organifier1873
silver bath1878
bromide emulsion1885
silver1891
sensibilizer1900
panchromatic1906
nuclear emulsion1949
1949 H. Yagoda Radioactive Measurem. with Nucl. Emulsions i. 6 These emulsions, intended for the registration of alpha-particle, proton, and fission-fragment tracks, are conveniently referred to as Nuclear Emulsions.
1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. (rev. ed.) IX. 584/2 Nuclear emulsion plates are important particle detectors for research in high-energy nuclear physics.
1991 Amer. Jrnl. Bot. 78 402/2 The tissue sections were covered with Ilford K5 nuclear emulsion. The autoradiographs were developed after 1 week.
nuclear energy n. (a) the energy present within atomic nuclei or possessed by their components; (b) the energy produced during fission or fusion reactions of atomic nuclei; = atomic energy n. at atomic adj. and n. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > nuclear fission > [noun] > energy from heavy elements
atomic power1824
atomic energy1854
nuclear energy1927
nuclear power1945
nuclear1975
the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > nuclear fission > nuclear fusion > [noun] > energy released by
atomic energy1854
nuclear energy1927
nuclear power1945
the world > matter > physics > energy or power of doing work > [noun] > specific types of energy
internal energy1654
positive energy1807
chemical energy1809
energy1852
potential energy1853
atomic energy1854
latent energy1854
static energy1869
free energy1884
rest energy1925
nuclear energy1958
radial energy1959
tangential energy1959
geothermal1960
dark energy1998
quintessence1998
1927 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 13 468 (caption) Electronic and nuclear energy in H2.
1941 in M. Gowing Brit. & Atomic Energy 1939–45 (1964) 431 The results..indicate that it should be possible to develop a nuclear energy machine on these lines.
1958 Daily Express 11 Mar. 7/1 He was speaking on the hazards which arrive from the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
1994 Independent 3 Nov. 20/2 For the moment nuclear energy is out of favour, though a review of policy is promised for 1994.
nuclear engineer n. a person who specializes in nuclear engineering.
ΚΠ
1949 Rev. Econ. & Statistics 31 217/1 Certain economic relations..will be of importance when..nuclear engineers are in a position to make fairly exact cost estimates.
1992 New Scientist 19 Sept. 27/1 Nuclear engineers and scientists need to find ways of countering the effects of radiation damage to the steel vessels.
nuclear engineering n. the branch of engineering concerned with the technology of nuclear fission and nuclear fusion, esp. for power generation.
ΚΠ
1948 Nucleonics June 2 Nuclear engineering, concerned with the design, construction, and operation of nuclear fission reactors.
1993 I. Welsh Trainspotting 64 They'd rather gie a merchant school old boy with severe brain damage a job in nuclear engineering than gie a schemie wi a Ph.D. a post as a cleaner in an abattoir.
nuclear fall n. = nuclear autumn n.
ΚΠ
1986 Foreign Affairs 64 993 The average temperature changes for the northern hemisphere mid-latitudes..more closely describe a nuclear ‘fall’ than a nuclear winter.
1990 Washington Post (Nexis) 26 Jan. a23 Those who would take comfort because the result of a war or ‘exchange’ might be nuclear fall instead of nuclear winter are pretty foolish.
nuclear flask n. an extremely strong lead-lined container for transporting or storing radioactive nuclear waste.
ΚΠ
1982 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) A. 307 298 There is also an increasing range of highly specialized ships, for example..the nuclear flask carriers.
2001 Independent 3 Mar. 2/6 Two carriages left the track, one of them containing an empty nuclear flask.
nuclear force n. Physics a force that acts between nucleons; (now) spec. the strong interaction.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > atomic physics > particle physics > weak or strong force > [noun] > strong force
nuclear force1924
1924 E. Rutherford in Sci. Monthly Dec. 574 The forces of attraction and repulsion must balance at a certain distance from the nucleus. Outside this critical point the forces on a positively charged body are entirely repulsive. Certain important consequences follow from this general view of nuclear forces.
1972 Sci. Amer. Oct. 100/2 Although the nuclear force acts between all nucleons, whether they are protons or neutrons, it must overcome the disruptive influence of the electrical repulsion between the positive charges of the protons in the nucleus.
1993 D. Lindley End Physics iv. 107 Physicists called it ‘the strong nuclear force’ a name that reflected how well it was understood; it was a force, it operated within the nucleus, and it was strong.
nuclear-free adj. (of a country or region) not having or allowing the presence of any nuclear weapons, materials, or power; esp. in nuclear-free zone.
ΚΠ
1958 New Statesman 5 Apr. 423/1 The SPD are demanding in effect no nuclear weapons for the Bundeswehr, none for foreign troops stationed on German territory, and a nuclear-free zone in central Europe.
1987 Canad. Geographic Dec. 76/3 It's fine for the people of Vancouver to say they're in a nuclear-free zone, but do they realize that the cancer unit that operates in their hospitals use irradiated cobalt?
2002 Sunday Mirror (Nexis) 16 June 16 Protests at sea continue to be a major part of the Pacific's effort to become truly Nuclear Free.
nuclear fuel n. material which can sustain a chain reaction to produce nuclear energy; = fuel n. 3d.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > fuel > chemical fuel > [noun] > nuclear
atom1945
rod1945
nuclear fuel1946
1946 Sci. & Techn. Aspects of Control of Atomic Energy (U.N. Dept. Public Information) i. 8 The nuclear fuel provided by nature is uranium-235.
1970 Daily Tel. 4 Nov. 5 Russia is prepared to supply West Germany with enriched uranium as nuclear fuel for peaceful purposes.
1992 Astron. Now July 26/2 When a star runs out of nuclear fuel and ceases to generate energy in its core, this balance is upset.
nuclear industry n. the sector of industry concerned with the generation of nuclear power and associated manufacturing and trading activities (including the production of nuclear weapons).
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > [noun] > types of industry generally
rural industry1735
heavies1900
sunset1906
cottage industry1911
light industry1916
heavy industry1932
resource industry1938
nuclear industry1954
growth industry1957
space industry1957
knowledge industry1959
sex industry1965
sunrise1972
smokestack industry1979
Tayacian1979
sausage fest1995
1954 Jrnl. Industr. Econ. 2 233 A-bomb-production has made plutonium-production much more attractive than it would be if the demand for plutonium only came from the power-producing nuclear industry for use in fast reactors.
1984 Aerospace Amer. (Nexis) Aug. 9 How would the nuclear industry have developed if the first generation of commercial reactors were not upscale versions of submarine reactors.
1993 Guardian 15 Oct. i. 9/7 British research into electricity production has been dominated by the nuclear industry.., even though Britain has the greatest wave power potential in Europe.
nuclear isomer n. Physics = isomer n. 2.
ΚΠ
1950 S. Glasstone Sourcebk. Atomic Energy x. 276/1 The phenomenon of decay by isomeric transition, that is, by the spontaneous conversion of one nuclear isomer into another, has been elucidated.
1968 F. B. Morinigo tr. H. von Buttlar Nucl. Physics xiv. 478 If the half-life is larger than 1 msec, the state is called a nuclear isomer (the choice of 1 msec for this definition is arbitrary).
1990 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) A. 332 216 There could even be practical applications, based on the non mass dependent isotope effect arising even for nuclear isomers of almost equal mass.
nuclear isomerism n. Physics = isomerism n. b.
ΚΠ
1938 R. W. Lawson tr. G. von Hevesy & F. A. Paneth Man. Radioactivity (ed. 2) x. 124 This isotope of silver..has two half-value periods, 24·5 m. and 8·2 d., the former being associated with positron emission, and the latter with the emission of β- and γ-rays... Here we are confronted with the phenomenon of nuclear isomerism.
1986 A. Pais Inward Bound viii. 158 He [sc. Otto Hahn] was also the first to detect recoil in radioactive transformations and to discover nuclear isomerism.
nuclear magnetic resonance n. Physics the absorption of electromagnetic radiation by a nucleus having a magnetic moment when in an external magnetic field, used mainly in the spectroscopic investigation of molecular structure and in diagnostic body imaging; abbreviated NMR.
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the world > matter > chemistry > atomic chemistry > [noun] > nucleus > resonance exhibited by
nuclear magnetic resonance1942
the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > [noun] > field of energy > magnetic resonance
resonance1938
nuclear magnetic resonance1942
1942 Physica 9 591 (heading) Negative result of an attempt to observe nuclear magnetic resonance in solids.
1965 J. R. Dyer Applic. Absorption Spectroscopy Org. Compounds p. vii Ultraviolet, infrared, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy are among the more important techniques that the organic chemist now uses.
1987 T. Wolfe Bonfire of Vanities ix. 195 If this had been a middle-class white kid, they'd have gone over him with the X-ray, the CAT scan, the nuclear magnetic resonance, everything there is.
nuclear magneton n. Physics a unit of nuclear magnetic moment, analogous to the Bohr magneton, with the mass of the proton replacing that of the electron, and equal to about 5·05 × 10−27 joules per tesla.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > [noun] > field of energy > magnetic resonance > unit expressing magnetic moment
nuclear magneton1935
1935 Physical Rev. 47 801/1 We obtain a value of 3·14 nuclear magnetons for the magnetic moment of the Li7 nucleus.
1962 H. D. Bush Atomic & Nucl. Physics iii. 60 For all nuclei, including the proton the magnitude of the moment is not an integral multiple of the nuclear magneton.
1984 N. N. Greenwood & A. Earnshaw Chem. of Elements (1986) xiv. 704 The nuclear magnetic moment is −1.8930 nuclear magnetons.
nuclear medicine n. the branch of medicine that deals with the use of radioactive substances in research, diagnosis, and treatment.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > art or science of medicine > [noun] > nuclear medicine or health physics
health physics1946
nuclear medicine1952
1952 (title) The American journal of roentgenology, radium therapy and nuclear medicine.
1975 Univ. of London Bull. Feb. 5/2 This University stands alone in the United Kingdom in having supported since 1961, in one of its medical schools, an academic department devoted solely to nuclear medicine.
1993 Dog World June 7 The technology of nuclear medicine scintigraphy as an alternative to the standard invasive methods of determining renal plasma flow in dogs.
nuclear missile n. a missile armed with a nuclear warhead.
ΚΠ
1946 W. L. Borden There will be no Time vi. 117 It would be impractical to build an expensive underground emplacement and an equally expensive rocket-launching warship for the purpose of firing only one nuclear missile each.
1960 Armed Forces Chem. Jrnl. Mar–Apr. 18/2 The content of this course is designed to provide the student with..concepts of radiological protection directly connected with Nike-Hercules nuclear missile handling.
1983 C. Chant & I. V. Hogg Nucl. War File Gloss. 153 Silo, the underground base of a nuclear missile, with facilities for the missile's launch.
2004 N. Polmar & K. J. Moore Cold War Submarines v. 84/1 Gorshkov was politically astute and would guide the Soviet Navy into the nuclear-missile era.
nuclear molecule n. Particle Physics an aggregation of atomic nuclei or subatomic particles.
ΚΠ
1938 R. W. Lawson tr. G. von Hevesy & F. A. Paneth Man. Radioactivity (ed. 2) ix. 94 The α-particle..a kind of ‘molecule’ of the ‘nuclear atoms’ possessing especial stability, and arising from the union of 2 protons and 2 neutrons.]
1961 Soviet Physics JETP 12 1196 (heading) On the bond in the C12–C12 nuclear molecule.
1977 New Scientist 27 Jan. 218/1 It is interesting to speculate whether the nuclei of atoms can combine in a similar way to form nuclear molecules.
1999 New Scientist 1 May 35/3 The Ikeda diagram suggested the existence of nuclear molecules that were unknown to science.
nuclear option n. (a) the option to use nuclear weapons in conflict; (b) figurative the most drastic of the possible responses to a situation.
ΚΠ
1962 Amer. Polit. Sci. Rev. 56 27/2 The strategic nuclear option was a policy for which both the weapons and a doctrine existed.
1996 Daily Tel. 23 Apr. 1/3 The so-called ‘nuclear option’ of imposing a wide-ranging ban on other European foodstuffs is..highly unlikely at this stage.
1998 G. E. Schweitzer Superterrorism ii. 81 When responding to chemical, biological, or conventional attacks, even if they are very serious, we should forget the nuclear option.
2000 Times 17 Nov. 1/2 The ‘nuclear option’ of a full partisan battle in Congress was raised.
nuclear physicist n. a person who specializes in nuclear physics.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > [noun] > study of > specialist in
nuclear physicist1935
1935 Sci. Monthly Jan. 92/1 The nuclear physicist had learned to manipulate the proton as a high speed projectile for the transmutation of elements.
2000 R. L. Park Voodoo Sci. vi. 117 A nuclear physicist would have more trouble swallowing the transmutation claim than the original cold fusion claim of Pons and Fleischmann.
nuclear physics n. the branch of physics concerned with atomic nuclei and their interactions, esp. in the generation of nuclear energy.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > [noun] > study of
nuclear physics1931
nucleonics1945
1931 Science 24 Apr. 441/2 Lectures in physics at the University of Michigan... Professor W. Pauli, University of Zurich. Problems of Nuclear Physics.
1956 A. H. Compton Atomic Quest 5 The use of the cyclotron was of epochal importance in nuclear physics.
2001 Physics News Update (Electronic text) 20 Apr. The study of ‘halo nuclei’ has become one of the hot areas of nuclear physics.
nuclear pile n. = nuclear reactor n. (see also pile n.3).
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > nuclear fission > nuclear reactor > [noun]
atomic furnace1934
pile1942
atomic reactor1945
nuclear reactor1945
reactor1945
nuclear pile1946
atomic pile1947
1946 Science 28 June 532/2 Farrington Daniels, editorial adviser in chemistry for Science, has been honored by having the first nuclear pile for the production of power named after him.
1962 F. I. Ordway et al. Basic Astronautics xii. 497 The effects..would be the same as those experienced by victims of an atomic bomb blast or an accident in a nuclear pile.
1994 Science 27 May 1346/2 Fermi informed the Soviet Union immediately about his success in achieving a self-sustaining fission chain reaction in a nuclear pile in Chicago on 2 December 1942.
nuclear power n. (a) electric or motive power generated by a nuclear reactor; (b) Politics a country possessing nuclear weapons.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > nuclear fission > [noun] > energy from heavy elements
atomic power1824
atomic energy1854
nuclear energy1927
nuclear power1945
nuclear1975
the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > nuclear fission > nuclear fusion > [noun] > energy released by
atomic energy1854
nuclear energy1927
nuclear power1945
1945 H. D. Smyth Gen. Acct. Devel. Atomic Energy Mil. Purposes xiii. 135 There is no immediate prospect of running cars with nuclear power.
1958 Ann. Reg. 1957 347 The resolution urged that the United Nations and the ‘nuclear’ Powers should immediately suspend all such tests.
1990 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 12 Apr. 32/2 Britain was cast in the leading supporting role, the only other nuclear power within NATO, America's loyalist ally and special relation.
1998 World in 1998 (Economist Publ.) 87/3 The Greens..will push to abandon nuclear power and to impose new energy taxes.
nuclear radiation n. high-energy particles or gamma rays emitted from atomic nuclei during radioactive decay or fission.
ΚΠ
1925 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 108 520 ν0 is that part of the wave-number which is independent of the rotation state (i.e., arising from electronic and nuclear radiation).
1981 Cook's Mag Mar.–Apr. 44/1 Microwaves are not ionizing radiation like X-rays or gamma rays (nuclear radiation).
1990 Poetry Rev. Spring 5/1 Most citizens when asked, list nuclear radiation and ozone depletion as the most serious environmental hazards.
nuclear reactor n. an apparatus or structure in which fissile material can be made to undergo a controlled, self-sustaining nuclear reaction with the consequent release of energy; (also) an apparatus, structure, or system in which nuclear fusion can take place.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > nuclear fission > nuclear reactor > [noun]
atomic furnace1934
pile1942
atomic reactor1945
nuclear reactor1945
reactor1945
nuclear pile1946
atomic pile1947
1945 Sci. Amer. Nov. 285/3 The radiation emitted by present nuclear reactors requires..heavy shielding.
1966 J. Betjeman High & Low 31 No nuclear reactors Bulge hideous on the downs.
1988 J. Elkington & J. Hailes Green Consumer Guide (1989) 23 It would take perhaps 200–300 large windmills to produce the same amount of power as a nuclear reactor.
nuclear shelter n. a structure designed to protect occupants from the effects of nuclear weapons.
ΚΠ
1964 World Politics 17 137 The powerful argument against nuclear shelters for bombers: ‘You cannot hit the enemy with cement’.
1981 Summary of World Broadcasts Pt. 1: U.S.S.R. (B.B.C.) (Nexis) 28 Oct. SU/6865/A1/3 The official pamphlet ‘Protect & Survive’..is full of useful tips: how to make a nuclear shelter from a door taken off its hinges.
1997 What's New in Electronics Europe May 13 In Switzerland, every home and factory includes a nuclear shelter by law.
nuclear umbrella n. the protection provided by the nuclear weapons of one country to its allies.
ΚΠ
1960 Spectator 26 Aug. 303 The American nuclear umbrella is a myth.
1973 Times 9 Nov. 20/1 The nuclear umbrella is now demonstrably in shreds.
1997 Asian Surv. 37 385 They have viewed the alliance along with..the U.S. nuclear umbrella over Japan as benefiting China.
nuclear waste n. radioactive waste material, esp. that produced during the generation of nuclear power or the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > refuse or rubbish > [noun] > radioactive waste
radioactive waste1947
nuclear waste1956
radwaste1964
1956 Amer. Polit. Sci. Rev. 50 974 Regulatory measures are obviously needed against wars and weapon tests; and they are essential to the disposition of nuclear waste from industrial plants.
1976 Glasgow Herald 26 Nov. 1/1 Environment secretary Peter Shore has delayed planning permission for the controversial £600m nuclear waste reprocessing facility at Windscale.
1994 Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey) 20 Nov. i. 14/4 Nearly 2,000 anti-nuclear activists protesting the opening of a nuclear waste dump blocked a train track for most of the day yesterday.
nuclear weapon n. a weapon, esp. a bomb, using nuclear fission or fusion; cf. nuclear bomb n.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > [noun] > a particular species of weapon > nuclear
nuclear bomb1945
big boy1946
nuclear weapon1946
atomics1951
deterrent1954
nuke1958
nuclear1959
1946 Rev. Polit. Apr. 147 We cannot take it for granted that nuclear weapons will not find their negation. The limitations of the atomic bomb will become obvious as our experience grows.
1965 H. Kahn On Escalation vi. 101 The U.S. should be willing to adopt the concept that the only purpose of nuclear weapons is to negate nuclear weapons.
2011 S. M. Freese Nucl. Weapons i. 9 Enriched uranium can be used to fuel nuclear power plants, but it is also used in nuclear weapons.
nuclear winter n. a period of extreme cold and darkness conjectured to follow a nuclear war, caused by a layer of smoke and dust in the atmosphere blocking the sun's rays.
ΚΠ
1983 C. Sagan in Washington Post Parade 30 Oct. 7/3 This scenario, we found, would ignite thousands of fires, and the smoke from these fires alone would be enough to generate an epoch of cold and dark almost as severe as in the 5000-megaton case. The threshold for what Richard Turco has called The Nuclear Winter is very low.
1983 R. P. Turco et al. in Science 23 Dec. 1283 (heading) Nuclear winter: global consequences of multiple nuclear explosions.
1991 Christian Sci. Monitor 23 Jan. 8 Scientists warned that burning oil wells could have a nuclear-winter effect, putting so much smoke and dust in the atmosphere that the sun would be obscured.
b. With participial adjectives, forming compounds.
(a) With the sense ‘relating to or involving nuclear energy as a source of propulsive power or electricity’.
nuclear-fuelled adj.
ΚΠ
1968 Times 18 Oct. 16/7 The element [sc. gadolinium] can be used in the design of nuclear-fuelled batteries.
1980 Jrnl. Royal Soc. Arts Mar. 199/1 Massive centralized electricity distribution grids, fed by a limited number of nuclear-fuelled generating stations.
1996 Marine Engineers Rev. Oct. 57/2 The last of the Royal Navy's nuclear-fuelled Polaris ballistic missile submarines.
nuclear-powered adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > nuclear fission > nuclear fuel > [adjective]
atomic1913
atomic-powered1945
nuclear1945
nuclear-powered1947
atom-powered1949
1947 C. Goodman Sci. & Engin. Nucl. Power I. 279 (caption) Nuclear-powered pseudo rocket.
1970 Daily Tel. 30 June 4/8 A nuclear-powered cardiac pacemaker has been placed in an unidentified female patient in the second such operation in France.
1995 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 6 Apr. 36/2 He proposed..a huge joint effort to relieve the region's water shortage by building large nuclear-powered desalination plants.
(b) With the sense ‘relating to or involving nuclear weapons’.
nuclear-armed adj.
ΚΠ
1955 Mil. Affairs 19 104/1 Powerful balanced nuclear armed task forces composed..of all service elements, to exercise our deterrent power.
1997 Amer. Jrnl. Internat. Law 91 428 The use of a nuclear depth charge to destroy a submarine that is about to fire nuclear-armed missiles.
nuclear-tipped adj.
ΚΠ
1959 Economist 14 Feb. 615/2 A nuclear-tipped anti-aircraft missile.
2001 High Country News 13 Aug. 15/3 Some residents of Cheyenne, Wyo., are actually getting misty-eyed over the Bush administration's plan to scrap 50 nuclear-tipped missiles.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.adv.n.1822- thio-arsenious
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