regelation

American  

[ree-juh-ley-shuhn] / ˌri dʒəˈleɪ ʃən /

noun

Physics.

1. a phenomenon in which the freezing point of water is lowered by the application of pressure; the melting and refreezing of ice, at constant temperature, caused by varying the pressure.

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regelation British  

/ ˌriːdʒɪˈleɪʃən /

noun

1. the rejoining together of two pieces of ice as a result of melting under pressure at the interface between them and subsequent refreezing

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Etymology

Origin of regelation

First recorded in 1855–60; re- + gelation ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

regelation

The one refers it mainly to regelation; the other to a real viscosity of the ice.

From The Birth-Time of the World and Other Scientific Essays by John Joly

Mr. James Thomson had referred regelation to the cold produced by the liquefaction of the pressed ice; but in the above experiment all pressure is not only taken away, but is replaced by tension.

From The Glaciers of the Alps Being a narrative of excursions and ascents, etc. by John Tyndall

But a little further down the wound is healed again, and regelation has restored the smooth surface of the glacier.

From The Birth-Time of the World and Other Scientific Essays by John Joly

We know that at 32° Fahrenheit, regelation renders the mass continuous, and that it becomes brittle only at a temperature below this.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 12, No. 74, December, 1863 by Various

It is formed in water, and not from the cementing and regelation of the powdery crystalline snow, as is glacier ice.

From More Science From an Easy Chair by Sir E. Ray (Edwin Ray) Lankester