acidify, v.
(əˈsɪdɪfaɪ)
[mod. f. L. acid-um acid + -fy = to make. Cf. Fr. acidifier.]
1. To make acid or sour. Chem. To convert into an acid by combination with any substance. Also fig.
| 1797 Pearson in Phil. Trans. LXXXVIII. 29 The three acids (viz. the oxymuriatic, the nitro-muriatic, and the nitric) which can acidify oxides. 1808 Henry Epit. Chem. 272 (ed. 5) Sugar is acidified by distillation with nitric acid. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. iii. iii. 181 His thin existence all acidified into rage, and preternatural insight of suspicion. 1851 Richardson Geol. v. 82 The name of the acid was derived from the substance acidified by the oxygen. |
2. intr. (refl.) To become acid.