noun

• 1Chemistry
  A binary compound of carbon with an element of lower or comparable electronegativity.

  ‘tungsten carbide’

  More example sentences

  • ‘a large number of carbides were noted’
  • ‘Borides, carbides, oxides, and nonmetallic particles in the melt are scavenged and then concentrated in localized regions within the cast structure.’
  • ‘Titanium can reduce carbon in austenite by forming very stable carbides.’
  • ‘How stable the carbides are depends on how the element is partitioned between the cementite and the matrix.’
  • ‘The structure is martensitic on cooling in air but the carbides can be precipitated and the steel softened by very slow cooling from 840°C.’
  • ‘While nickel and copper do not affect hardenability nearly as much, they segregate to graphite nodule sites and do not form detrimental carbides.’

  1. 1.1Calcium carbide (CaC₂), used to generate acetylene by reaction with water and formerly used in portable lamps.
     as modifier ‘a carbide lamp’
     More example sentences

     • ‘There was a narrow track from the road down to the farm and in the dark with only carbide lamps on the fire engine they went off the track and got stuck.’
     • ‘The store stocks candles, flashlights, carbide and hurricane lamps, solar-powered attic fans and much more.’
     • ‘By now our carbide lamps were providing only a pathetically small amount of illumination.’
     • ‘The taste of fruit ripened using Ethyril gas in a ripening chamber is said to be much better than the fruit ripened with carbide.’
     • ‘Now that was the new technology and they were just starting to use electric lights to project the magic lanterns instead of the carbide lamps.’