aliquot

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Stargzer
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aliquot

Postby Stargzer » Thu Dec 15, 2005 2:33 am

I ran across this word whilst perusing an online Latin dictionary and remembered it from my undergraduate General Chemistry course waaaaaaayyyyyyyy back in my freshman year.
Latin:
aliquot : some, several.

General Chemistry:
aliquot: A sample of precisely determined amount taken from a material.

The EPA's definition:
aliquot

A measured portion of a sample taken for analysis. One or more aliquots make up a sample. (See: duplicate.) (Source: Office of Communications, Education, and Media Relations: Terms of Environment: Glossary, Abbreviations, and Acronyms (Revised December 1997) Term Detail)

A portion of a sample. (Source: State of New Jersey: New Jersey Field Analysis Manual Term Detail)

Portion of a sample. (Source: Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water: A Dictionary of Technical and Legal Terms Related to Drinking Water Term Detail)

American Heritage Dictionary:
aliquot

SYLLABICATION: al·i·quot
PRONUNCIATION: ăl' ĭ-kwŏt', -kwət
ADJECTIVE: Of, relating to, or denoting an exact divisor or factor of a quantity, especially of an integer.
NOUN: An aliquot part.
ETYMOLOGY: Latin aliquot, a number of, several : alius, some; see al-[sup]1[/sup] in Appendix I + quot, how many; see k[sup]w[/sup]o- in Appendix I.
Suggested Usage:

"I won't say that Noel Tungs' knowledge of Swedish is hard to measure, but it is just barely enough for an aliquot."
Regards//Larry

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Slava
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Postby Slava » Thu Oct 28, 2010 8:36 pm

I'll stick with "smattering." Sorry to say, but aliquot just doesn't float my boat.

It does make it through the spell-checker, though.
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Slava
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Re: aliquot

Postby Slava » Fri Feb 22, 2013 12:19 am

Okay, I'll admit I still have no clue as yet as to how to use this one in basic conversation. However, it is used in this recent article from The Economist: http://www.economist.com/news/science-a ... lanet-flea

A few re-reads and other examples, I may actually be able to grasp just what this word means. Using it will take another step or two, I'm afraid.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

Philip Hudson
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Re: aliquot

Postby Philip Hudson » Fri Feb 22, 2013 12:29 am

Unless you are a scientist doing experiments, particularly a chemist, the word aliquot needen't float your boat. As a chemistry lab instructor, I used the word. As a mathematics teacher I used the word. I never thought to insert it into a general conversation. Some words are just too technical for general use.
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