Definition of "azote"

Azote is one of the most abundant elements in nature, and combined with calorique or heat, it forms azotic gas or phlogistic air, and composes two thirds of the atmosphere […] .

1791, Erasmus Darwin, The Economy of Vegetation, J. Johnson, page 73

The proportion of azote gas to that of the oxigen obtained is as 64 to 36.

1801, Christopher Girtanner, “A Memoir, in which the Queſtion is examined, whether Azote be a ſimple or complex body?”, in William Nicholson, editor, Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry and the Arts, volume 4, page 170

Hence it is obvious that deutoxide of azote is a compound of one volume of azote and one volume of oxygen gas united together, without any alteration of volume, consequently its specific gravity is the mean of that of oxygen and azotic gases.It is composed, by weight, of azote 0.9722 or 1.75, oxygen 1.1111 or 2. If we reckon the atomic weight of azote 1.75, this gas is obviously a compound of one atom azote and two atoms oxygen.

1823, Chemistry, entry in Charles Maclaren (chief editor), Encyclopædia Britannica, 6th Edition, page 366

Those who have adopted these opinions, represent the atom of azote by the number 1.75. We consider the 5 compounds of azote and oxygen, as composed of 1 atom azote, united with 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, atoms of oxygen.

1831, Thomas Thomson, A System of Chemistry of Inorganic Bodies, volume 1, page 133