| voluble | 1. Easily rolling or turning; easily set in motion; apt to roll; rotating; as, voluble particles of matter. 2. Moving with ease and smoothness in uttering words; of rapid speech; nimble in speaking; glib; as, a flippant, voluble, tongue. "[Cassio] a knave very voluble." (Shak) Voluble was used formerly to indicate readiness of speech merely, without any derogatory suggestion. "A grave and voluble eloquence." 3. Changeable; unstable; fickle. 4. <botany> Having the power or habit of turning or twining; as, the voluble stem of hop plants. <botany> Voluble stem, a stem that climbs by winding, or twining, round another body. Vol"ubleness, Vol"ubly. Origin: L. Volubilis, fr. Volvere, volutum, to roll, to turn round; akin to Gr. To infold, to inwrap, to roll, G. Welle a wave: cf. F. Voluble. Cf. F. Well of water, Convolvulus, Devolve, Involve, Revolt, Vault an arch, Volume, Volute. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| volume | 1. A roll; a scroll; a written document rolled up for keeping or for use, after the manner of the ancients. "The papyrus, and afterward the parchment, was joined together [by the ancients] to form one sheet, and then rolled upon a staff into a volume (volumen)." (Encyc. Brit) 2. Hence, a collection of printed sheets bound together, whether containing a single work, or a part of a work, or more than one work; a book; a tome; especially, that part of an extended work which is bound up together in one cover; as, a work in four volumes. "An odd volume of a set of books bears not the value of its proportion to the set." (Franklin) 4. Anything of a rounded or swelling form resembling a roll; a turn; a convolution; a coil. "So glides some trodden serpent on the grass, And long behind wounded volume trails." (Dryden) "Undulating billows rolling their silver volumes." (W. Irving) 4. Dimensions; compass; space occupied, as measured by cubic units, that is, cubic inches, feet, yards, etc.; mass; bulk; as, the volume of an elephant's body; a volume of gas. 5. Amount, fullness, quantity, or calibre of voice or tone. <chemistry> Atomic volume, Molecular volume, the ratio of the atomic and molecular weights divided respectively by the specific gravity of the substance in question. <physics> Specific volume, the quotient obtained by dividing unity by the specific gravity; the reciprocal of the specific gravity. It is equal (when the specific gravity is referred to water at 4 deg C. As a standard) to the number of cubic centimeters occupied by one gram of the substance. Origin: F, from L. Volumen a roll of writing, a book, volume, from volvere, volutum, to roll. See Voluble. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| volume averaging | In computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging, the effect of expressing the average density of a voxel as a pixel in the image; the greater the slice thickness, the more averaging is necessary, with loss in density resolution. (05 Mar 2000) |
| volume element | See: voxel. (05 Mar 2000) |
| volume index | An indication of the relative size (e.g., volume) of erythrocytes, calculated as follows: haematocrit value, expressed as per cent of normal ÷ red blood cell count, expressed as per cent of normal = volume index. (05 Mar 2000) |
| volume loading rate | The rate of raw materials put into a fermenter or aerobic digester, expressed in terms of material weight per unit volume per unit time. (09 Oct 1997) |
| volume substitute | Infusion of cell-free or volume-expanding fluids such as dextran for replacement of fluid lost from the circulation as part of the prevention or treatment of circulatory shock. (05 Mar 2000) |
| volume unit | A unit of a logarithmic scale for expressing the power level of a complex audio-frequency electrical signal, such as that transmitting music or speech; the power in volume unit's equals the decibels of power above a reference level of one milliwatt, as measured with an appropriate meter. (05 Mar 2000) |
| volume-controlled respirator | A respirator that provides a predetermined volume of gases during inhalation, with the pressure required to move that volume remaining variable, depending upon resistance. (05 Mar 2000) |
| volumenometer | <physics> An instrument for measuring the volume of a body, especially a solid, by means of the difference in tension caused by its presence and absence in a confined portion of air. Origin: L. Volumen volume. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| volumenometry | <chemistry> The method or process of measuring volumes by means of the volumenometer. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| volumetric | Of or pertaining to the measurement of volume. <chemistry> Volumetric analysis, that system of the quantitative analysis of solutions which employs definite volumes of standardized solutions of reagents, as measured by burettes, pipettes, etc.; also, the analysis of gases by volume, as by the eudiometer. Origin: Volume + -metric. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| volumetric analysis | Quantitative analysis by the addition of graduated amounts of a standard test solution to a solution of a known amount of the substance analyzed, until the reaction is just at an end; depends upon the stoichiometric nature of the reaction between the test solution and the unknown. (05 Mar 2000) |
| volumetric flask | A flask calibrated to contain or to deliver a definite amount of liquid. (05 Mar 2000) |
| volumetric solution | A solution made by mixing measured volumes of the components. (05 Mar 2000) |