▪ I. anneal, v.
(əˈniːl)
Forms: 1 onælan (anælan), 2 onealen, anhelen, 4–5 anele, 5 enele, 5–7 aneal(e, 6 hanele, 7 anneile, eneal, 7– anneal. Aphet. 8 neal.
[In senses 1, 2, f. an- prefix 1 on + OE. ǽlan to set on fire, burn, bake (tiles, etc.). There seems no reason why the later senses should not have sprung directly from this, the transition being simple from the baking of tiles, fusing of minerals (both senses of OE. ǽlan, and early ME. anele), to the burning of a glaze or enamel upon the surface of pottery, glass, or metals; and from this to the hardening, toughening, or tempering of the surface of such substances, as in modern use. But the former of these Mätzner derives from OFr. neeler, nieler, to enamel, originally to enamel in black upon gold or silver:—med.L. nigellāre, f. nigellum, dim. of nigrum black. Although there is no OFr. a-neeler, and no ME. neele, nele, so that the formal connexion of neeler and anneal is not established, it is possible that the native anele may have been viewed as the representative of Fr. neeler, and modified in sense accordingly.]
† 1. To set on fire, kindle, inflame. lit. and fig. Obs.
| a 1000 O.E. Chron. 694 (Bosw.) Mid andan þǽre rihtwisnesse anæld. a 1000 Sol. & Sat. 42 Þæt Pater Noster ádwæsceð déofles f{yacu}r, dryhtnes onæleð. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 97 He mid his bleade onealde eorðlichen monnan heortan. Ibid. 219 Seraphim birninde oðer anhelend. |
† 2. To subject to the action of fire; to alter in any way with heat; as, to ‘fire’ or bake earthenware, fuse ores, vitrify or glaze a surface. Obs.
| 1393 Gower Conf. III. 96 So as the fire it hath aneled [vitrified] Lich unto slime, which is congeled. 1440 Promp. Parv., Anelyn, or enelyn metalle, or other lyke. c 1465 Bk. Quintess. 7 Take þe calx of fyn gold..and putte it in a siluer spone, and anele it at þe fier. 1668 in Phil. Trans. III. 769 If they cannot cut the Rock, they use fire to aneale it. |
3. To burn in colours upon glass, earthenware, or metal, to enamel by encaustic process. arch.
| 1580 Baret Alv. A 382 He that doth Aneale pottes or other vessels, Inustor. 1601 Holland Pliny xi. xxxvii, Some paint and die them..others vernish and anneile them. 1633 G. Herbert Windows ii. in Temple 59 When thou dost anneal in glasse thy storie. 1697 Potter Antiq. Greece iii. xv, Nor were they barely varnish'd over with them [colours], but very often anneal'd by Wax melted in the Fire. |
4. a. To toughen anything, made brittle from the action of fire, by exposure to continuous and slowly diminished heat, or by other equivalent process.
| 1664 Evelyn Sylva 103 They use them amongst divers Artificers..to temper, and aneal their several Works. 1749 Phil. Trans. XLVI. 180 How comes it that the glass..when it has been nealed, it does not break? 1870 F. L. Pope Telegraph ii. (1872) 21 The iron cores, as they are termed, of electro magnets, should be annealed with great care. 1881 Mechanic §1439 It [steel] must be ‘tempered’ or partially annealed. |
b. loosely, To cool down from a great heat.
| 1859 M. Scott Cringle's Log x. 220 You have been wasted one moment by the vertical rays of the sun and the next annealed hissing hot by the salt sea spray. |
c. transf. Applied to the action of frost. rare.
| c 1750 Shenstone Econ. iii. 106 From each branch, anneal'd, the works of frost Pervasive, radiant icicles depend. |
5. fig. To toughen, temper.
| 1695 Blackmore Pr. Arth. i. 111 Had not our Mould been æther, Pure and Fine, Labour'd with Care, anneel'd with Skill Divine. 1813 Scott Rokeby i. xxxi, To press the rights of truth, The mind to strengthen and anneal. 1842 B. Simmons in Blackw. Mag. LII. 401 Indomitable will Anneals those limbs to warrior purpose still. |
6. Microbiology. (trans. and intr.) To combine to form double-stranded nucleic acid.
| 1961 Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. XLVII. 147 A physical unit carrying both markers was formed by annealing a heated mixture of these two DNAs. Ibid. 149 S-C units do not form if the DNAs are mixed after heating and annealing. They must anneal together. 1965 Biochim. & Biophys. Acta XCV. 515 The denatured RNA anneals to give a ribonuclease-resistant form. 1978 Sci. Amer. Feb. 121/1 The DNA from SV40 virions was also separated into single strands by heating, and the resulting single strands were then ‘annealed’ with the cellular DNA at a lower temperature. 1983 Biochem. & Biophys. Res. Communications CXIV. 522 A duplex..cDNA transcript..can be synthesised..and..the transcription primer anneals to an internal sequence in the template. |
▪ II. anneal
obs. form of anele.