einstein
nounnouncommon in dialogue
A genius; a very smart person.
noun
- 1
datedOne mole of photons, regardless of frequency, as used to measure irradiance.
The einstein (symbol E) is an obsolete unit with two conflicting definitions.
- 2
informalA genius; a very smart person.
He's a prodigy — they call him their little einstein.
- 3
informalA genius; a very smart person. An idiot; a very stupid person.
Yeah, that guy is a real einstein — he always finds a way to mess up the simplest order.
Etymology
Named in honor of Albert Einstein, who explained the photoelectric effect.
noun
- 1
A shape that can be repeated to cover a plane with a nonrepeating pattern.
In less poetic terms, an einstein is an “aperiodic monotile,” a shape that tiles a plane, or an infinite two-dimensional flat surface, but only in a nonrepeating pattern. (The term “einstein” comes from the German “ein stein,” or “one stone” — more loosely, “one tile” or “one shape.”)
Etymology
From German ein Stein, "one stone", coined by scientists in recent decades, but with tongue-in-cheek tacit acknowledgment of the homonymy with einstein and Einstein; "a pun playing with the famous scientist's name and the German term "ein Stein" for "one stone".
Forms
- plural
- einsteins
einstein · A genius; a very smart person.
Einstein · Albert Einstein, the world-famous 20th-century theoretical…Eisenhower · A surname.either · Any one (of two).