Word for the day: X-ray

X-ray |ˈɛks.reɪ|                                                                *rayos X (en Español)

DEFINITION

noun
1 an electromagnetic wave of high energy and very short wavelength (between ultraviolet light and gamma rays), which is able to pass through many materials opaque to light.• [ as modifier ] informal denoting an apparent or supposed faculty for seeing beyond an outward form: you didn't need X-ray eyes to know what was going on.2 a photographic or digital image of the internal composition of something, especially a part of the body,produced by X-rays being passed through it and being absorbed to different degrees by different materials.• an act of making an X-ray of someone or something: he will have an X-ray today | [ mass noun ] : would you send her for X-ray?3 a code word representing the letter X, used in radio communication.

verb [ with obj. ]photograph or examine with X-rays: luggage bound for the hold is X-rayed.
ORIGIN translation of German X-Strahlen (plural), from X- (because, when discovered in 1895, the nature of the rays was unknown) + Strahl ‘ray’.

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