calcine
UK /ˈkælsaɪn/ · US /ˈkælˌsaɪn/ verb, noun
Forms calcines calcining calcined calcinest calcinedst calcineth
- verb (alchemy, historical) To heat (a substance) to remove its impurities and refine it.
- verb (physical chemistry) To heat (a substance) without melting in order to drive off water, etc., and to oxidize or reduce it; specifically, to decompose (carbonates) into oxides, and, especially, to heat (limestone) to form quicklime.
- verb (by extension) To heat (something) to dry and sterilize it.
- verb To purify or refine (something).
- verb To burn up (something) completely; to incinerate; hence, to destroy (something).
- verb (intransitive, physical chemistry) Of a substance: to undergo heating so as to oxidize it.
- noun Something calcined; also, material left over after burning or roasting.
Synonyms
Etymology
The verb is derived from Late Middle English calcinen (“(alchemy, medicine) to heat (something) until it turns to powder; to change the nature of (something) by heating”) [and other forms], from Old French calciner (modern French calciner (“to calcinate; to calcine”)) and from its etymon Medieval Latin calcināre (“(alchemy) to burn like lime; to reduce to calx”), from Late Latin calcīna (“inorganic material containing calcium, lime”) + -āre (suffix forming present active infinitive forms of verbs). Calcīna is derived from Latin calcis, the genitive singular of calx (“chalk; limestone”), possibly from Ancient Greek χᾰ́λῐξ (khắlĭx, “small stone, pebble; gravel, rubble”); further etymology unknown, possibly Pre-Greek.
The noun is derived from the verb.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To reduce to a powder, or to a friable state, by the action of heat; to expel volatile matter from by means of heat, as carbonic acid from limestone, and thus (usually) to produce disintegration; as to, calcine bones.
- verb To oxidize, as a metal by the action of heat; to reduce to a metallic calx.
- verb To be convereted into a powder or friable substance, or into a calx, by the action of heat. "Calcining without fusion" Newton.
Etymology [F. calciner, fr. L. calx, calcis, lime. See Calx.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “calcine”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details