ether

an anesthetic; the upper regions of space; the heavens

Not to be confused with:

either – one or the other: It’s either too hot or too cold.

e·ther

(ē′thər)

1. Any of a class of organic compounds in which two hydrocarbon groups are linked by an oxygen atom.

2. A volatile, highly flammable liquid, C₄H₁₀O, derived from distilling ethyl alcohol with sulfuric acid, used as a reagent and solvent, and formerly used as an anesthetic. Also called diethyl ether, ethyl ether.

3. The regions of space beyond the earth's atmosphere; the heavens.

4. The element believed in ancient and medieval civilizations to fill all space above the sphere of the moon and to compose the stars and planets.

5. Physics An all-pervading, infinitely elastic, massless medium formerly postulated as the medium of propagation of electromagnetic waves.

[Middle English, upper air, from Latin aethēr, from Greek aithēr.]

e·ther′ic (ĭ-thĕr′ĭk, ĭ-thîr′-) adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ether

(ˈiːθə)

1. (Elements & Compounds) Also called: diethyl ether, ethyl ether or ethoxyethane a colourless volatile highly flammable liquid with a characteristic sweetish odour, made by the reaction of sulphuric acid with ethanol: used as a solvent and anaesthetic. Formula: C2H5OC2H5

2. (Elements & Compounds) any of a class of organic compounds with the general formula ROR′ where R and R′ are alkyl groups, as in diethyl ether C2H5OC2H5

3. (General Physics) the ether the hypothetical medium formerly believed to fill all space and to support the propagation of electromagnetic waves

4. (Classical Myth & Legend) Greek myth the upper regions of the atmosphere; clear sky or heaven

5. a rare word for air

Also (for senses 3–5): aether

[C17: from Latin aether, from Greek aithēr, from aithein to burn]

etheric adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

e•ther

(ˈi θər)

n.

a. Also called ethyl ether. a colorless, highly volatile, flammable liquid, C₄H₁₀O, having an aromatic odor and sweet burning taste, used as a solvent and formerly as an inhalant anesthetic.

b. (formerly) one of a class of compounds in which two organic groups are attached directly to an oxygen atom, having the general formula ROR.

2. upper regions of space; the clear sky; the heavens.

3. the medium supposed by the ancients to fill the upper regions of space.

4. a substance formerly supposed to occupy all space, accounting for the propagation of electromagnetic radiation through space.

[1350–1400; < Latin aethēr the upper air, ether < Greek aithḗr, akin to aíthein to glow, burn]

e•ther•ic (ɪˈθɛr ɪk, ɪˈθɪər-) adj.

e·ther

(ē′thər)

1. An organic compound in which two hydrocarbon groups are linked by an oxygen atom.

2. A colorless, flammable liquid, C₄H₁₀O. It is used as a solvent and was formerly used as an anesthetic.

3. A hypothetical medium formerly believed to permeate all space and to be the medium through which light and other electromagnetic radiation move. The existence of ether was disproved by the American physicists Albert Michelson and Edward Morley in 1887.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	ether - the fifth and highest element after air and earth and fire and water; was believed to be the substance composing all heavenly bodies quintessence archaicism, archaism - the use of an archaic expression element - one of four substances thought in ancient and medieval cosmology to constitute the physical universe; "the alchemists believed that there were four elements"
	2.	ether - any of a class of organic compounds that have two hydrocarbon groups linked by an oxygen atom organic compound - any compound of carbon and another element or a radical
	3.	ether - a medium that was once supposed to fill all space and to support the propagation of electromagnetic waves aether medium - an intervening substance through which signals can travel as a means for communication
	4.	ether - a colorless volatile highly inflammable liquid formerly used as an inhalation anesthetic diethyl ether, divinyl ether, ethoxyethane, ethyl ether, vinyl ether enflurane, Ethrane - a nonflammable liquid (trade name Ethrane) used as an inhalation general anesthetic inhalation anaesthetic, inhalation anesthetic, inhalation general anaesthetic, inhalation general anesthetic - a gas that produces general anesthesia when inhaled

Translations

الأثير

æter

ÄtherEther

αιθέρας

éter

éther

éter

eterljósvaki

etere ètere

イーサーエーテル

eteris

ēteris

eter

éter

эфир

éter

eter

eterlokman ruhu

乙醚以太

ether

[ˈiːθəʳ] N (Chem) → éter m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

ether

[ˈiːθə^r] n → éther m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

ether

n (Chem, poet) → Äther m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

ether

[ˈiːθəʳ] n → etere m

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

ether

(ˈiːθə) noun

a colourless liquid used to dissolve fats etc, and, medically, as an anaesthetic.

e·ther

n. éter, fluido químico cuyo vapor es usado en anestesia general.

ether

n éter m

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Your readers will possibly comprehend that the Atlantic, in this parable, stands for the mighty ocean of ether through which we drift and that the bunch of corks represents the little and obscure planetary system to which we belong.

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The theory is something like this: Space is pervaded by luminiferous ether, which is a material thing--as much a substance as air or water, though almost infinitely more attenuated.

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in what rapt ether sails the world, of which the weariest will never weary?

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And I said -- "She is warmer than Dian: She rolls through an ether of sighs -- She revels in a region of sighs.

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"The ether, my friend, is an agglomeration of imponderable atoms, which, relatively to their dimensions, are as far removed from each other as the celestial bodies are in space.

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As the sun and each atom of ether is a sphere complete in itself, and yet at the same time only a part of a whole too immense for man to comprehend, so each individual has within himself his own aims and yet has them to serve a general purpose incomprehensible to man.

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Also his hero-will hath he still to unlearn: an exalted one shall he be, and not only a sublime one:--the ether itself should raise him, the will- less one!

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The telephone current is a phenomenon of the ether, say the theorists.

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"Give me some water and ether. You have some in the house, have you not?"

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Their heads might have been turned upside-down, so absolutely did they tread upon blue ether. The lady in black, creeping behind them, looked a trifle paler and more jaded than usual.

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He had traced through cold and heat, across the deeps of the oceans, with instruments of his own invention, over the inhospitable heart of the polar ice and the sterile visage of the deserts, league by league, patiently, unweariedly, remorselessly, from their ever-shifting cradle under the magnetic pole to their exalted death-bed in the utmost ether of the upper atmosphere each one of the Isoconical Tellurions Lavalle's Curves, as we call them today.

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I did not hold the sort of fancied converse with him that I held with ether authors, and I cannot pretend that I had the affection for him that attracted me to them.

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