deliquesce

American  

[del-i-kwes] / ˌdɛl ɪˈkwɛs /

verb (used without object)

deliquesced, deliquescing

1. to become liquid by absorbing moisture from the air, as certain salts.

2. to melt away.

3. Botany. to form many small divisions or branches.

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deliquesce British  

/ ˌdɛlɪˈkwɛs /

verb

1. (esp of certain salts) to dissolve gradually in water absorbed from the air

2. (esp of certain fungi) to dissolve into liquid, usually at maturity

3. (of a plant stem) to form many branches

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Etymology

Origin of deliquesce

First recorded in 1750–60; from Latin dēliquēscere “to become liquid,” equivalent to dē- de- + liquēscere; liquescent

Example Sentences

Shivaree, chthonian, erumpent, tintinnabulation, exonumia, requiescat, deipnosophist, omphaloskepsis, horripilation, deliquesce, apopemptic.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 26, 2021

Then, surprise: a secret chamber filled with the yolk of a hard-boiled egg, bright yellow and just starting to deliquesce.

From New York Times • Jul. 19, 2012

The home-schooled whiz was such a wreck, she asked to wait offstage between spelling such words as deliquesce and sufflaminate.

From Time Magazine Archive

It was nothing else than copper sulphate which had been allowed to deliquesce to a white powder.

From Psychotherapy by Walsh, James J. (James Joseph)

Coprini are apt to deliquesce, certain other specimens, especially in warm weather, are apt to be so infested with larvæ that they will be ruined by morning, when immediate drying might save them.

From Studies of American Fungi. Mushrooms, Edible, Poisonous, etc. by Atkinson, George Francis