radiums

Noun

radium (countable and uncountable, plural radiums)

1. The chemical element (symbol Ra) with an atomic number of 88. It is a soft, shiny and silvery radioactive alkaline earth metal.
   • Madame [Marie] Curie, working with her distinguished husband, isolated and first traced to its true origin the source of the marvellous power which has thus commenced to revolutionise our philosophy of physics. This new element has appropriately been named "Radium;" but it has also been shown that...1902, Ernest Howard Adye, “Radio-active Elements”, in Frank Rutley, Mineralogy (Murby’s “Science and Art Department” Series of Text-books), 15th revised and corrected edition, London: Thomas Murby &...
   1. (countable) An atom of this element.
2. (dated) A type of cloth woven from silk or synthetic yarn, often with a shiny appearance.
   • City retailers are doing well with high-class radiums printed in bright greens, brilliant purples and strong yellows. Such are the high novelties.1913 January 11, “[Dress Fabrics […]] Silks Moving Well: An Excellent Business Assured for the Coming Spring Season”, in Dry Goods Economist, volume 67, number 3575, New York, N.Y.: The Textile...

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