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Fine Dictionary

particle

ˈpɑrtɪkəl
WordNet
Cube-shaped paperweight of green, violet and light gray p te de verre; small particles of melted gold leaf. On the top two violet moths.
Cube-shaped paperweight of green, violet and light gray p te de verre; small particles of melted gold leaf. On the top two violet moths.
  1. (n) particle
    a function word that can be used in English to form phrasal verbs
  2. (n) particle
    a body having finite mass and internal structure but negligible dimensions
  3. (n) particle
    (nontechnical usage) a tiny piece of anything
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
Interesting fact
Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin
  1. Particle
    (R. C. Ch) A crumb or little piece of consecrated host.
  2. Particle
    (Physics) An elementary particle.
  3. Particle
    Any very small portion or part; the smallest portion; as, he has not a particle of patriotism or virtue. "The houses had not given their commissioners authority in the least particle to recede."
  4. Particle
    (R. C. Ch) The smaller hosts distributed in the communion of the laity.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
Interesting fact
Humans shed about 600,000 particles of skin every hour about 1.5 pounds a year. By 70 years of age, an average person will have lost 105 pounds of skin.
  1. (n) particle
    A small part or piece, especially a small part or portion of some material substance: as, a particle of dust.
  2. (n) particle
    Specifically, any very small piece or part of anything: absolutely, a minute quantity; anything very small; an atom; a bit: as, he has not a particle of patriotism or virtue; are you fatigued? Not a particle.
  3. (n) particle
    In grammar, a part of speech that is considered of minor consequence, or that plays a subordinate part in the structure of the sentence, as connective, sign of relation, or the like: such are especially conjunctions, prepositions, and the primitive adverbs. The term is loose and unscientific.
  4. (n) particle
    Synonyms and Particle, Atom, Molecule, Corpuscle,iota, jot, mite, tittle, whit, grain, scrap, shred, scin-tilla. Atom and molecule are exact scientific terms; the other two of the italicized words are not. A particle is primarily a minute part or piece of a material substance, or, as in the case of dust, pollen, etc., a substance that exists in exceedingly minute form. Corpuscle is a somewhat old word for particle, to which it has almost entirely yielded place, taking up instead a special meaning in physiology. See definitions; see also part, n.
  5. (n) particle
    In a document of any kind, a very small part of any statement or proposition; a clause.
  6. (n) particle
    In the Roman Catholic Church, the host given to each lay communicant.
  7. (n) particle
    In mech., a body or portion of matter so minute that, while it possesses mass, it may be treated as a geometrical point.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
Interesting fact
Tiny dust particles surround a comet. They are swept into a long tail by the solar wind, which consists of subatomic particles speeding from the sum at speed of hundred of miles per second.
  1. (n) Particle
    pär′ti-kl a little part: a very small portion: : :
  2. (n) Particle
    a distinct or minute part: a single point: a single instance:
  3. (v.i) Particle
    to mention or attend to single things or minute details
  4. (n) Particle
    pär′ti-kl (physics) the minutest part into which a body can be divided: an atom
  5. (n) Particle
    pär′ti-kl (gram.) an indeclinable word, as a preposition, a conjunction, an interjection: a word that can only be used in composition, as wise in sidewise
  6. (n) Particle
    pär′ti-kl (R.C. Church) a crumb of consecrated bread, also the 'smaller breads' used in the communion of the laity
  7. (n) Particle
    (pl.) details
Quotations
Enrico Fermi
If I could remember the names of all these particles, I'd be a botanist.
Enrico Fermi
Henry David Thoreau
Poetry implies the whole truth, philosophy expresses only a particle of it.
Henry David Thoreau
William Blake
For everything exists and not one sigh nor smile nor tear, one hair nor particle of dust, not one can pass away.
William Blake
I have not a particle of confidence in a man who has no redeeming vices.
Mark Twain
Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary L. particula, dim. of pars, gen partis, a part: cf. F. particule,. See Part, and cf. Parcel

Usage in the news

The plants these dinosaurs fed on were tough and covered with hard, tooth-gouging particles. csmonitor.com

They'll study images of the particles for clues to the nature of matter and the universe. csmonitor.com

The world's largest particle accelerator is spurred to record-breaking speed, suggesting that it will deliver on its scientific promise. latimes.com

The physics community is excited to see CERN's particle accelerator up and running again. informationweek.com

A global collaboration of scientists is preparing to start up the greatest particle physics experiment in history. sciam.com

Coronal mass ejections are massive clouds of plasma and charged particles that are unleashed into space during strong solar storms. csmonitor.com

The strongest solar storm of the summer so far could send a wave of charged particles toward our planet that could supercharge northern lights displays, NASA scientists say. csmonitor.com

A shimmering patch of light as big as Sweden detected at the north pole of Saturn is the spectacular result of a giant stream of electrically charged particles from the planet's moon Enceladus, scientists find. msnbc.msn.com

Designed for a variety of food products, the system handles a wide range of particle sizes and densities. foodengineeringmag.com

This comic highlights the recent discovery of the "God Particle" aka the Higgs Boson particle. canyon-news.com

Smaller particles, higher pressures, and other unconventional conditions spur speed and efficiency in separations. pubs.acs.org

Here, too, is occasion to contemplate a universe made up of tiny vibrating strings instead of particles, strings "so small that a direct observation would be tantamount to reading the text on this page from a distance of 100 light-years". nytimes.com

US 7,842,131 B2 Kronos International Inc has been granted a patent for titanium dioxide (TiO2) pigment particles comprised of uncoated rutile TiO2 particles. coatingsworld.com

Just say the magic word "Pop," and it'll deliver a single particle of popped corn into your mouth—thereby changing the whole snacking process. hot1047.com

Northeast Ohio not meeting air pollution standards for fine particles. ksu.org

Usage in scientific papers

Then, particles are first ordered according to the absolute value of their kf–code and particles are always listed before anti-particles.
AMEGIC++ 1.0, A Matrix Element Generator In C++

We can use the mass matrix of νe , νµ neutrinos to consider transitions between these particles in the framework of the quantum theory (or particle physics) since the mass matrix is an eigenstate of the type of interaction which creates these particles (see below).
Neutrino Oscillations. Theory and Experiment

Since we assume here that the particles have two internal states, which we treat as spin states, the single-particle density operator ˆρ1 acts in the product space of orbital and spin variables of one particle.
Large amplitude spin waves in ultra-cold gases

In this scheme the excitations of the system are considered as a set of independent quasi particles with energies in a small range around the Fermi energy, which for many-particle systems is much larger than the single-particle ground state energies .
Semiclassical Construction of Random Wave Functions for Confined Systems

So we can conclude that the interaction, which is between a real particle and a shadow particle, acts upon a location of a real particle in space.
Certain conclusions of Gordon decomposition

Usage in literature

The world is known to us simply by virtue of, and in relation to, the vibratory motion of its particles. "Genuine Mediumship or The Invisible Powers" by Bhakta Vishita

I'm glad you enjoy it, but I don't envy you a particle. "Ben's Nugget" by Horatio, Jr. Alger

Newton has attempted to explain the different refrangibility of the rays of light by supposing them composed of particles differing in size. "The World's Greatest Books - Volume 15 - Science" by Various

I don't believe the stuff hurts me a particle. "Beatrice Leigh at College" by Julia Augusta Schwartz

Water replete with saline particles, as brine-pickle for salt meat. "The Sailor's Word-Book" by William Henry Smyth

Not a particle of show or glitter in their attire or equipment. "Starlight Ranch" by Charles King

It's mighty easy to die with your head full o' rum, but I don't go for to choose it meself, not particler. "The Iron Pirate" by Max Pemberton

And of course, you haven't a particle of claim upon us. "The Girl from Sunset Ranch" by Amy Bell Marlowe

Between the most minute Particles only. "Conversations on Chemistry, V. 1-2" by Jane Marcet

We notice that the water at once becomes muddy and that little particles of a dark substance rise to the surface. "Conservation Reader" by Harold W. Fairbanks

Usage in poetry
Wanting to know all
I overlooked each particle
Containing the whole
Unknowable.
The Atoms of Democritus
And Newton's Particles of Light
Are sands upon the Red Sea shore,
Where Israel's tents do shine so bright.
Nor is it strange these wanderers
Find in her lap their fitting place,
For every particle that's hers
Came at the first from outer space.
O amazement of things! even the least particle!
O spirituality of things!
O strain musical, flowing through ages and continents—now reaching
me and America!
Nature, it seems is the popular name
for milliards and milliards and milliards
of particles playing their infinite game
of billiards and billiards and billiards.
For, like a bubble on the stream,
E'er we of any danger dream,
The aerial particle of life is flown;
And yet, so thoughtless still are we,
We don't the gaping pit-fall see,
'Till to perdition we all tumble down.