vanadium
nounA bright white, soft, ductile metallic element found in several minerals, notably vanadinite and carnotite, having good structural strength and used in rust-resistant high-speed tools, as a carbon stabilizer in some steels, as a titanium-steel bonding agent, and as a catalyst. Atomic number 23; atomic weight 50.942; melting point 1,910°C; boiling point 3,407°C; specific gravity 6.0 (18.7°C); valence 2, 3, 4, 5. cross-reference: Periodic Table.
nounMetallic vanadium in a compact state has been obtained by fusion in an electric furnace. It has a gray color, is lustrous, and, as thus far observed, brittle, though perhaps this may be due to impurity of the metal; it is with difficulty freed from oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen.
nounChemical symbol, V; atomic weight, 51.2. A metal first discovered by Del Rio, in 1801, in a lead ore from Mexico, and called by him erythronium, because its salts became red when heated with acids.
nounA rare element of the nitrogen-phosphorus group, found combined, in vanadates, in certain minerals, and reduced as an infusible, grayish-white metallic powder. It is intermediate between the metals and the non-metals, having both basic and acid properties. Symbol V (or Vd, rarely). Atomic weight 50.94 (C12=12.000).
nounA chemical
a soft silvery white toxic metallic element used in steel alloys; it occurs in several complex minerals including carnotite and vanadinite