▪ I. flocculate, a. Ent.
(ˈflɒkjʊlət)
[f. flocculus + -ate2.]
(See quot.)
| 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. IV. 346 Flocculate, when the posterior coxæ are distinguished by a curling lock of hair. |
▪ II. flocculate, v.
(ˈflɒkjʊleɪt)
[f. as prec. + -ate3.]
trans. To aggregate into flocculent masses.
| 1877 Le Conte Elem. Geol. (1879) 70 note, The property, possessed by lime..of flocculating and precipitating clay sediments. |
Hence floccuˈlation, the process of flocculating.
| 1885 Brewer in Amer. Jrnl. Sc. Ser. iii. XXIX. 4 The flocculation and precipitation of the suspended material is almost equally rapid. 1961 Lancet 16 Sept. 631/1 Flocculation tests [were] negative. |
Add: b. intr. To form flocculent masses.
| 1890 in Webster. 1909 F. P. Gay tr. Bordet's Stud. Immunity xxii. 421 When the salt solution which flocculates is removed and replaced by distilled water, the complex recovers its original appearance and is again disseminated. 1934 L. E. H. Whitby Med. Bacteriol. (ed. 2) xxi. 205 Toxoid..also flocculates when mixed with antitoxin. 1971 Nature 29 Oct. 590/1 The particulate matter tends to flocculate in the presence of high salinities. 1986 M. Rigby et al. Forces between Molecules viii. 202 If the attractive forces so far considered were the only interactions between colloidal particles, they would always flocculate and form large aggregates. |