Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Floating on the surface.
  • noun The clear fluid above a sediment or precipitate.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Swimming above; floating on the surface.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Swimming above; floating on the surface.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective of a liquid Lying above a sediment or precipitate
  • adjective Floating on the surface of a liquid
  • noun The liquid that lies above a sediment or precipitate; supernate
  • noun Material that floats on the surface of a liquid

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the clear liquid that lies above a sediment or precipitate
  • adjective of a liquid; floating on the surface above a sediment or precipitate

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin supernatāns, supernatant-, present participle of supernatāre, to float : super-, super- + natāre, to swim, frequentative of nāre; see snā- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

super- +‎ natant

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Examples

  • The cell culture supernatant was regularly tested for reverse transcriptase activity.

    Françoise Barré-Sinoussi - Autobiography 2009

  • Following 5-10 min at 90°C, the hemoglobin in crude Fraction I was "cooked" and precipitated like mud, and the activity remained soluble in the supernatant.

    Aaron Ciechanover - Autobiography 2005

  • Depending on the filter design, flow rates may have to be adjusted accordingly or the layer of supernatant water on the filter will get too high.

    Chapter 5 2000

  • In practice, the stock of supernatant water is drained through the filter at a continuously declining flow rate during the night and in the morning hours, the filter is refilled with pretreated water to reassume normal operation.

    8. Classification of roughing filters 1996

  • Filter cleaning must be carried out once the supernatant water has reached its maximum permissible level; i.e., when maximum filter resistance of about 1 meter is attained for the designed filtration rate.

    1. Historical development and experience with water treatment 1996

  • This is also true for the recommended inlet controlled slow sand filters which compensate the progressive headloss development by a gradual increase of the supernatant water level.

    8. Classification of roughing filters 1996

  • Filter cleaning starts with drainage of the supernatant water and dewatering of the top part of the sand bed.

    1. Historical development and experience with water treatment 1996

  • Missing supernatant drainage system ® long drainage periods for dewatering the filter box will affect the biology in the sand bed

    Chapter 8 1996

  • The top should be covered by a layer of coarse stones to shade the supernatant water and thus prevent algal growth often experienced in pretreated water exposed to the sun.

    8. Classification of roughing filters 1996

  • The crude oil is left to stand for three days and the clarified supernatant oil (35.8 kg) is poured off leaving 11.2 kg of sediment

    Chapter 6 1995

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