limescale

British

/ ˈlaɪmskeɪl /

noun

Often shortened to: scale. a flaky deposit left in containers such as kettles by the action of heat on water containing calcium salts

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of limescale

from _lime ¹ (sense 1) + _scale ¹ (sense 3)

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

limescale

Hard water is caused by mineral buildup, which isn’t bad for your health but can create limescale on appliances like your water heater.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2024

Zeng says that over time, these incrustants would build up like typical limescale, at which point they could be scrubbed away to remove the NMPs.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 28, 2024

This is a nuisance in households -- and an expensive problem in thermal power stations, for example those that generate electricity, where the formation of limescale is known as fouling.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 9, 2024

So the researchers, led by former ETH Professor Thomas Schutzius, took a close look at the interactions among individual growing limescale crystals, the surrounding water flow and the surface at the microscopic level.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 9, 2024

While the coating can't fully prevent limescale crystals from forming, the constant passive removal of the microscopic crystals stops them growing together to form a tenacious layer.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 9, 2024

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023