Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary -- Volume CCy·an"ic (s?-?n"?k), a. [Gr. κυανοσ a dark blue substance: cf. F. cyanique. Cf. Kyanite.] 1. Pertaining to, or containing, cyanogen. 2. Of or pertaining to a blue color. -- Cyanic acid (Chem.), an acid, HOCN, derived from cyanogen, well known in its salts, but never isolated in the free state. -- Cyanic colors (Bot.), those colors (of flowers) having some tinge of blue; -- opposed to xanthic colors. A color of either series may pass into red or white, but not into the opposing color. Red and pure white are more common among flowers of cyanic tendency than in those of the other class. Cy"a·nide (s?"?-n?d or -n?d; 104), n. [Cf. F. cyanide. See Cyanic.] (Chem.) A compound formed by the union of cyanogen with an element or radical. Cy"a·nin (s?"?-n?n), n. [See Cyanic.] (Chem.) The blue coloring matter of flowers; -- called also anthokyan and anthocyanin. Cy"a·nine (s?"?-n?n or -n?n; 104), n. (Chem.) One of a series of artificial blue or red dyes obtained from quinoline and lepidine and used in calico printing. Cy"a·nite (-n?t), n. [See Cyanic.] (Min.) A mineral occuring in thin-bladed crystals and crystalline aggregates, of a sky-blue color. It is a silicate of aluminium. [Written also kyanite.] Cy·an"o·gen (s?-?n"?-j?n), n. [Gr. κυανοσ a dark blue substance + -gen: cf. F. cyanogène. So called because it produced blue dyes.] (Chem.) A colorless, inflammable, poisonous gas, C2N2, with a peach-blossom odor, so called from its tendency to form blue compounds; obtained by heating ammonium oxalate, mercuric cyanide, etc. It is obtained in combination, forming an alkaline cyanide when nitrogen or a nitrogenous compound is strongly ignited with carbon and soda or potash. It conducts itself like a member of the halogen group of elements, and shows a tendency to form complex compounds. The name is also applied to the univalent radical, CN (the half molecule of cyanogen proper), which was one of the first compound radicals recognized. |