Definition of "nitrous" []

• Of, derived from, or containing nitrogen, especially in a valence state lower than that in a comparable nitric compound. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Priestley found that the same kind of air was to be obtained by moistening with the spirit of nitre (which he terms nitrous acid) any kind of earth that is free from phlogiston, and applying heat; and consequently he says: "There remained no doubt on my mind but that the atmospherical air, or the thing that we breathe, consists of the nitrous acid and earth, with so much phlogiston as is necessary to its elasticity, and likewise so much more as is required to bring it from its state of perfect purity to the mean condition in which we find it.""
• "As aquatic dead zones around the world intensify on a daily basis the increase in nitrous oxide production could be deadly to the atmosphere."
• "Some of our ATV compatriots are looking for a no-holds-barred game of horsepower, and nitrous is the ultimate weapon."