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Webster 1913 Edition


Deliquescent

Delˊi-ques′cent

,
Adj.
[L.
deliquescens
,
-entis
, p. pr. of
deliquescere
: cf. F.
déliquescent
.]
1.
Dissolving; liquefying by contact with the air; capable of attracting moisture from the atmosphere and becoming liquid;
as,
deliquescent
salts
.
2.
(Bot.)
Branching so that the stem is lost in branches, as in most deciduous trees.
Gray.

Webster 1828 Edition


Deliquescent

DELIQUESCENT

,
Adj.
Liquefying in the air; capable of attracting moisture from the atmosphere and becoming liquid; as deliquescent salts.

Definition 2024


deliquescent

deliquescent

See also: déliquescent

English

Adjective

deliquescent (comparative more deliquescent, superlative most deliquescent)

  1. (chemistry) Absorbing moisture from the air and forming a solution.
    deliquescent salts
  2. (botany) Branching so that the stem is lost in branches, as in most deciduous trees.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Gray to this entry?)
  3. melting; disappearing; seeming to deliquesce.
    • 1993, John Banville, Ghosts
      Yes, laugh, as I want to laugh for instance in the concert hall when the orchestra trundles to a stop and the virtuoso at his piano, hunched like a demented vet before the bared teeth of this enormous black beast of sound, lifts up deliquescent hands and prepares to plunge into the cadenza.

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