Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A flammable, colorless or yellowish liquid base, C5H5N, having a penetrating odor and serving as the parent compound of many biologically important derivatives. It is used as a solvent and waterproofing agent and in the manufacture of various drugs and vitamins.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A colorless liquid (C5H5N) of pungent odor, derived from coal-tar, and useful in allaying asthmatic paroxysms.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Physiol. Chem.) A nitrogenous base, C5H5N, obtained from the distillation of bone oil or coal tar, and by the decomposition of certain alkaloids, as a colorless liquid with a peculiar pungent odor. It is the nucleus of a large number of organic substances, among which several vegetable alkaloids, as nicotine and certain of the ptomaïnes, may be mentioned. See lutidine.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun organic chemistry Any of a class of aromatic heterocyclic compounds containing a ring of five carbon atoms and an nitrogen atom; especially the simplest one, C5H5N.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a toxic colorless flammable liquid organic base with a disagreeable odor; usually derived from coal

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[pyr(o)– + –id(e) + –ine.]

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