[W/K] :: silicon

  Silicon \Sil"i*con\, n. [See Silica.] (Chem.)
     A nonmetalic element analogous to carbon. It always occurs
     combined in nature, and is artificially obtained in the free
     state, usually as a dark brown amorphous powder, or as a dark
     crystalline substance with a meetallic luster. Its oxide is
     silica, or common quartz, and in this form, or as silicates,
     it is, next to oxygen, the most abundant element of the
     earth's crust. Silicon is characteristically the element of
     the mineral kingdom, as carbon is of the organic world.
     Symbol Si. Atomic weight 28. Called also silicium.
     [1913 Webster]

  silicon
       n : a tetravalent nonmetallic element; next to oxygen it is the
           most abundant element in the earth's crust; occurs in
           clay and feldspar and granite and quartz and sand; used
           as a semiconductor in transistors [syn: Si, atomic
           number 14]

  silicon
  Symbol: Si
  Atomic number: 14
  Atomic weight: 28.086
  Metalloid element belonging to group 14 of the periodic table. It is the
  second most abundant element in the Earth's crust, making up 25.7% of it
  by weight. Chemically less reactive than carbon. First identified by
  Lavoisier in 1787 and first isolated in 1823 by Berzelius.
  
  

  silicon n. Hardware, esp. ICs or microprocessor-based computer systems
     (compare iron). Contrasted with software. See also sandbender.
  
  

  silicon
       
          1.  The material used as the base (or
          "substrate") for most integrated circuits.
       
          2.  Hardware, especially integrated circuits or
          microprocessor-based computer systems (compare iron).
       
          Contrast: software.  See also sandbender.
       
          [{Jargon File]
       
          (1996-05-28)