Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To swell or expand; enlarge.
- intransitive verb To bubble up, especially from the effect of heating.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To enlarge or expand, as with heat; swell up; become tumid.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To enlarge or expand with heat; to swell; specifically, to swell up or bubble up under the action of heat, as before the blowpipe.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To
swell orenlarge (abnormally) - verb To
bubble up (as the result of heating)
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb expand abnormally
- verb move upwards in bubbles, as from the effect of heating; also used metaphorically
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The first two are evident, as when it fuses it runs into a globule; the last, by inspecting it before and after the heating with a magnifying glass; sometimes it froths up when heated, and is then said to "intumesce;" or, if it flies to fragments, "decrepitates."
Scientific American Supplement, No. 344, August 5, 1882 Various
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Upon exposure to fire, the material begins to intumesce (expand rapidly) in response to heat by beginning a process of evaporative cooling and charring on the surface of the coating.
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Upon exposure to fire, the material begins to intumesce (expand rapidly) in response to heat by beginning a process of evaporative cooling and charring on the surface of the coating.
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Upon exposure to fire, the material begins to intumesce (expand rapidly) in response to heat by beginning a process of evaporative cooling and charring on the surface of the coating.
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Upon exposure to fire, the material begins to intumesce (expand rapidly) in response to heat by beginning a process of evaporative cooling and charring on the surface of the coating.
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Upon exposure to fire, the material begins to intumesce (expand rapidly) in response to heat by beginning a process of evaporative cooling and charring on the surface of the coating.
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Upon exposure to fire, the material begins to intumesce (expand rapidly) in response to heat by beginning a process of evaporative cooling and charring on the surface of the coating.
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Upon exposure to fire, the material begins to intumesce (expand rapidly) in response to heat by beginning a process of evaporative cooling and charring on the surface of the coating.
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Upon exposure to fire, the material begins to intumesce (expand rapidly) in response to heat by beginning a process of evaporative cooling and charring on the surface of the coating.
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Upon exposure to fire, the material begins to intumesce (expand rapidly) in response to heat by beginning a process of evaporative cooling and charring on the surface of the coating.
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