inspissation
(ɪnspɪˈseɪʃən)
[ad. med.L. inspissātiōn-em, n. of action from inspissāre to inspissate.]
The action of making, or process of becoming, thick or dense; thickening, condensation; an instance of this.
| 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1079 What more opposite to subtilization and rarefaction, than inspissation and condensation? 1626 Bacon Sylva § 919 Wrought by the inspissation of the Aire. 1691 Ray Creation ii. (1692) 58 The Oyl preserves the Mucilage from Inspissation. 1794 J. Hutton Philos. Light, etc. 193 The greater or lesser degree of inspissation that the oil had suffered. 1874 Roosa Dis. Ear (ed. 2) 122 The secretions are packed in the ear, and..inspissation of the cerumen is very often caused. 1898 Allbutt's Syst. Med. V. 27 The occasional intratubal mucous inspissations of acute bronchitis seen chiefly in children. |
| fig. 1839 Blackw. Mag. XLV. 356 He could imbibe sixteen tumblers of whisky punch, without any other external indication than a slight inspissation of speech. |