I. ˈkärbən, ˈkȧb- also -ˌbän; rapid sometimes -b ə m noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: French carbone, from Latin carbon-, carbo ember, charcoal — more at hearth
1. : a nonmetallic chiefly tetravalent element occurring native (as in the diamond and graphite) and forming a constituent of coal, petroleum, and asphalt, of limestone and other carbonates, and of all organic compounds and also obtained artificially in varying degrees of purity especially as carbon black, lampblack, activated carbon, charcoal, and coke and used in these and other forms (as baked carbon and resin-impregnated impervious carbon and graphite) chiefly as a pigment, adsorbent, fuel, electrode material, structural material, and reducing agent (as for metal oxides) — symbol C ; see element table : carbon fourteen, carbon thirteen
2.
a. : a sheet of carbon paper
b. : carbon copy
3.
a. : a carbon rod used in an arc lamp
b. : a plate or piece of carbon used as one of the elements in a voltaic cell
4. : carbonado III
5. : carbon transfer
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
1. : to deposit carbon upon (as a cylinder or spark plug)
2. : to make a carbon copy of (as a letter)