EL'EMENT, n. [L. elementus.]

1. The first or constituent principle or minutest part of any thing; as, the elements of earth, water, salt or wood; the elements of the world; the elements of animal or vegetable bodies. So letters are called the elements of language.
2. An ingredient; a constituent part of any composition.
3. In a chimical sense, an atom; the minutest particle of a substance; that which can not be divided by chimical analysis, and therefore considered as a simple substance, as oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, &c. An element is strictly the last result of chimical analysis; that which can not be decomposed by any means now employed. An atom is the last result of mechanical division; that which can not be any farther divided without decomposition; hence there may be both elementary and compound atoms.
4. In the plural, the first rules or principles of an art or science; rudiments; as, the elements of geometry; the elements of music; the elements of painting; the elements of a theory.
5. In popular language, fire, air, earth and water, are called the four elements, as formerly it was supposed that these are simple bodies, of which the world is composed. Later discoveries prove air, earth and water to be compound bodies, and fire to be only the extrication of light and heat during combustion.
6. Element, in the singular, is sometimes used for the air. Shak.
7. The substance which forms the natural or most suitable habitation of an animal. Water is the proper element of fishes; air, of man. Hence,
8. The proper state or sphere of any thing; the state of things suited to one's temper or habits. Faction is the element of a demagogue.
9. The matter or substances which compose the world. The elements shall melt with fervent heat. 2 Pet. iii.
10. The outline or sketch; as, the elements of a plan.
11. Moving cause or principle; that which excites action. Passions, the elements of life. Pope. Elements, in the plural, the bread and wine used in the eucharist.

1. To compound of elements or first principles. Boyle.
2. To constitute; to make as a first principle. Donne. [This word is rarely or never used.]

1. One of the simplest or essential parts or principles of which anything consists, or upon which the constitution or fundamental powers of anything are based.
2. To compound of elements or first principles.
   
   
   [Obs.] "[Love] being elemented too." Donne.
3. One of the ultimate, undecomposable constituents of any kind of matter. Specifically: (Chem.) A substance which cannot be decomposed into different kinds of matter by any means at present employed; as, the elements of water are oxygen and hydrogen.
   
   

   * The elements are naturally classified in several families or groups, as the group of the alkaline elements, the halogen group, and the like. They are roughly divided into two great classes, the metals, as sodium, calcium, etc., which form basic compounds, and the nonmetals or metalloids, as oxygen, sulphur, chlorine, which form acid compounds; but the distinction is only relative, and some, as arsenic, tin, aluminium, etc., form both acid and basic compounds. The essential fact regarding every element is its relative atomic weight or equivalent. When the elements are tabulated in the order of their ascending atomic weights, the arrangement constitutes the series of the Periodic law of Mendelejeff. See Periodic law, under Periodic. This Periodic law enables us to predict the qualities of unknown elements. The number of elements known is about seventy-five, but the gaps in the Periodic law indicate the possibility of many more. Many of the elements with which we are familiar, as hydrogen, carbon, iron, gold, etc., have been recognized, by means of spectrum analysis, in the sun and the fixed stars. From certain evidence (as that afforded by the Periodic law, spectrum analysis, etc.) it appears that the chemical elements probably may not be simple bodies, but only very stable compounds of some simpler body or bodies. In formulas, the elements are designated by abbreviations of their names in Latin or New Latin.

   The Elements
   ------------------------------------------------------------
   Name ]Sym-]Atomic Weight]
   ]bol ] O=16 ] H=1 ]
   ------------------------------------------------------------
   Aluminum ] Al ] 27.1 ] 26.9]
   Antimony(Stibium)
   Argon
   Arsenic
   Barium
   Beryllium (see Glucinum)
   Bismuth
   Boron
   Bromine
   Cadmium
   Caesium
   Calcium
   Carbon
   Cerium
   Chlorine
   Chromium
   Cobalt
   Columbium
   Copper (Cuprum)
   Erbium
   Fluorine
   Gadolinium
   Gallium
   Germanium
   Glucinum
   Gold
   Helium
   Hydrogen
   Indium
   Iodine
   Iridium
   Iron (Ferrum)
   Krypton
   Lanthanum
   Lead (Plumbum)
   Lithium
   Magnesium
   Manganese
   Mercury (Hydrargyrum)
   Molybdenum
   Neodymium
   Neon
   Nickel
   Niobium (see Columbium)
   Nirogen
   Osmium
   Oxygen
   Palladium
   Phosphorus
   Platinum
   Potassium (Kalium)
   Praseodymium
   Rhodium
   Rubidium
   Ruthenium
   

   -----------------------------------------------------------
   The Elements -- continued
   ------------------------------------------------------------
   Name
   Samarium
   Scandium
   Selenium
   Silicon
   Silver (Argentum)
   Sodium (Natrium)
   Strontium
   Sulphur
   Tantalum
   Tellurium
   Thallium
   Thorium
   Thulium
   Tin (Stannum)
   Titanium
   Tungsten (Wolframium)
   Uranium
   Vanadium
   Wolfranium (see Tungsten)
   Xenon
   Ytterbium
   Yttrium
   Zinc
   Zirconium
   ------------------------------------------------------------
   

   Several other elements have been announced, as holmium, vesbium, austrium, etc., but their properties, and in some cases their existence, have not yet been definitely established.

4. To constitute; to make up with elements.
   
   

   His very soul was elemented of nothing but sadness. Walton.

5. One of the ultimate parts which are variously combined in anything; as, letters are the elements of written language; hence, also, a simple portion of that which is complex, as a shaft, lever, wheel, or any simple part in a machine; one of the essential ingredients of any mixture; a constituent part; as, quartz, feldspar, and mica are the elements of granite.
   
   

   The simplicity which is so large an element in a noble nature was laughed to scorn. Jowett (Thucyd.).

6. One out of several parts combined in a system of aggregation, when each is of the nature of the whole; as, a single cell is an element of the honeycomb.
   
   
   (b) (Anat.)
7. One of the simplest essential parts, more commonly called cells, of which animal and vegetable organisms, or their tissues and organs, are composed.
8. An infinitesimal part of anything of the same nature as the entire magnitude considered; as, in a solid an element may be the infinitesimal portion between any two planes that are separated an indefinitely small distance. In the calculus, element is sometimes used as synonymous with differential.
   
   
   (b)
9. One of the necessary data or values upon which a system of calculations depends, or general conclusions are based; as, the elements of a planet's orbit.
10. The simplest or fundamental principles of any system in philosophy, science, or art; rudiments; as, the elements of geometry, or of music.
11. Any outline or sketch, regarded as containing the fundamental ideas or features of the thing in question; as, the elements of a plan.
12. One of the simple substances, as supposed by the ancient philosophers; one of the imaginary principles of matter.
    
    
    (a)
13. The whole material composing the world.
    
    

    The elements shall melt with fervent heat. 2 Peter iii. 10.

14. The bread and wine used in the eucharist or Lord's supper.
    
    

    Magnetic element, one of the hypothetical elementary portions of which a magnet is regarded as made up.