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; see liquescent

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Explanation

To deliquesce is to melt away or become liquid. On a very hot and humid day, a dish of salt left on the counter will begin to deliquesce, slowly dissolving into a pool of moisture. In scientific terms, a substance deliquesces when it absorbs so much water from the atmosphere that it begins to dissolve. Many different things deliquesce, including certain salts and plants, gradually becoming damp or mushy and eventually melting away completely. You can also use this word in a joking or figurative way whenever you're really sweaty: "It's so hot out here I'm starting to deliquesce!" Deliquesce is from the Latin deliquescere, "to melt away."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

deliquesce deliquesced deliquescing

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

Crystals of some substances deliquesce, or take water from the air, and thus dissolve themselves.

From An Introduction to Chemical Science by Rufus Phillips Williams

The gills are free, flesh-colored, and inclined to deliquesce.

From The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise Its Habitat and its Time of Growth by Miron Elisha Hard

I have, however, since, from the same materials, produced the salt above-mentioned in a state not subject to deliquesce or evaporate.

From Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air by Joseph Priestley

These creepy sculptures bring to mind George Segal figures in hospital gowns, deliquesced to resemble diseased, screaming versions of George Lucas’s Yoda, a figure with no place in this deranged galaxy.

From New York Times ● Jul. 17, 2014

Another lot of the sap, reduced to sugar without lime-water, granulated, but not so well, was sour to the taste, deliquesced by exposure, and gave a considerable quantity of molasses.

From The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c. by P. L. Simmonds

For a short while the flaming phantasma lingered firm and orb-like, while the space between itself and reality grew to a hand's breadth; then slowly deliquesced.

From Fountains in the Sand Rambles Among the Oases of Tunisia by Norman Douglas

Dr. Moore sent me some preserved in alcohol; it was dried, but soon deliquesced.

From Insectivorous Plants by Charles Darwin

Whereupon the stranger deliquesced and reformed into the personable simulacrum of young Mr. Darcy.

From My Fair Planet by Evelyn E. Smith

That was sitting out there, in a state of just deliquescing.

From The New Yorker ● Oct. 28, 2019

Some have recognizable faces, even painted ones; others appear to be deliquescing into formlessness, their arms and torsos stuck together like tallow.

From New York Times ● Jun. 7, 2018

As we near St. Kilda, the islands look as if they’re deliquescing.

From New York Times ● May 7, 2018

The mood is loosened, people starting to mingle like deliquescing particles.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 13, 2017

I realized the catastrophe, as I held its crumbling, deliquescing fragments on my palm it melted into vapor and was gone!

From Beyond the Vanishing Point by Ray Cummings

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