▪ I. amalgamate, ppl. a.
(əˈmælgəmət)
[? ad. med.L. *amalgamāt-us, pa. pple. of amalgamā-re, f. amalgama: see amalgam n. Used also as pa. pple. of amalgamate v.]
1. Combined or alloyed. (Said of mercury and another metal.)
| 1642–7 H. More Poems 262 Nimble quicksilver that doth agree With gold..or with what ere it be Amalgamate. |
2. Combined, coalesced; spec. of languages (see quot. 1862).
| 1849–52 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. IV. 1346/2 The Amalgamate type, of which the classical languages are the most perfect example. 1850 Mrs. Browning Gerald. Courtsh. lxviii. 3, I felt self-drawn out, as man, From amalgamate false natures. 1862 Spencer First Princ. (1870) 321 Out of these [agglutinate languages] by further use, arose the ‘amalgamate’ languages, or those in which the original separateness of the inflexional parts can no longer be traced. |
▪ II. amalgamate, v.
(əˈmælgəmeɪt)
[f. prec., which also continues in occasional use as its pa. pple., instead of amalgamated.]
1. trans. To soften or dissolve (a metal) by combination with mercury; hence, to combine mercury with another metal.
| 1660 Boyle Exper. Phys. Mech. (R.) Amalgamating mercury with a convenient proportion of pure tin. 1706 Phillips, Amalgamate, to mix Mercury or Quicksilver with Gold, or some other noble Metal; so as to reduce it into a kind of Paste. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Amalgamation, The amalgamating mercury with copper is a very difficult process. 1875 Ure Dict. Arts III. 806 The chloride of silver thus formed..is amalgamated with the quicksilver. |
2. intr. To enter into combination with mercury.
| 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Amalgamation, All metals, except iron and copper, spontaneously unite and amalgamate with mercury. 1804 Wollaston in Phil. Trans. XCIV. 424 On the surface of mercury a metallic film was precipitated, but did not appear to amalgamate. |
3. By extension, To mix any substances so as to form a uniform compound.
| 1821 Scott Kenilw. (1867) 53 Wayland..mixed, pounded, and amalgamated the drugs. |
4. fig. To unite together (classes, races, societies, ideas, etc.) so as to form a homogeneous or harmonious whole. (Used either of combining two elements, or one element with another.) a. trans.
| 1802 T. Jefferson Writ. (1830) III. 489 It remains to amalgamate the comptroller and auditor into one. 1833 Coleridge Table T. 239 [The Romans] were ordained by Providence to conquer and amalgamate the materials of Christendom. 1868 M. Pattison Academ. Organ. §5. 157 To amalgamate Merton with Corpus Christi College. 1872 W. Minto Eng. Lit. i. i. 63 The four sentences of the original are amalgamated into two. |
b. intr.
| 1797 Anti-Jacobin No. 5 Liberty's friends thus all learn to amalgamate. 1848 Lytton Harold i. ii. 12 These turbulent invaders had amalgamated amicably with the native race. 1862 Marsh Eng. Lang. ii. 31 The Celtic words in English..have never amalgamated with it. 1866 Crump Banking ix. 200 Two banks of issue had amalgamated. |