Definitions

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

  • noun A water-soluble compound, CO(NH2)2, that is the major nitrogenous end product of protein metabolism and is the chief nitrogenous component of the urine in mammals and certain other animals.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Carbamide, CO.(NH2)2, a crystalline solid, soluble in water, and forming crystalline compounds with both acids and bases.
  • noun It is the most important nitrogenous waste product of the mammalian organism. It is an acid amide, its solutions presenting a neutral reaction. It can combine with acids to form crystalline, salt-like products, and is decomposed by sodium hypobromite and the hypochlorite with the liberation of carbon dioxid, nitrogen, and water. On heating the substance ammonia is given off and biuret formed.

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

  • adjective (Physiol. Chem.) A very soluble crystalline body which is the chief constituent of the urine in mammals and some other animals. It is also present in small quantity in blood, serous fluids, lymph, the liver, etc.
  • adjective a soluble ferment formed by certain bacteria, which, however, yield the ferment from the body of their cells only after they have been killed by alcohol. It causes urea to take up water and decompose into carbonic acid and ammonia. Many different bacteria possess this property, especially Bacterium ureæ and Micrococcus ureæ, which are found abundantly in urines undergoing alkaline fermentation.

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

  • noun biochemistry A water-soluble organic compound, CO(NH2)2, formed by the metabolism of proteins and excreted in the urine.
  • noun chemistry Any N-substituted derivative of urea, with the general formula (R1R2N)CO(NR3R4).

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

  • noun the chief solid component of mammalian urine; synthesized from ammonia and carbon dioxide and used as fertilizer and in animal feed and in plastics

Etymologies

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

[New Latin, from French urée, from urine, urine, from Old French, from Latin ūrīna; see urine.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

New Latin, from French urée, from Ancient Greek οὖρον ("urine").

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