congeal, v.
(kənˈdʒiːl)
Forms: 4–7 congele, 5 -gell-yn, 5–7 -ieale, 6 -geel, -iele, -ieyle, 6– congeal.
[ME. congele(n, a. OF. congeler (14th c. in Littré) 3rd sing. pres. congèle, ad. L. congelāre, f. con- together + gelāre to freeze, f. gelum, gelu frost.]
I. trans.
1. To convert, by freezing, from a fluid or soft to a solid and rigid state, as water into ice; to freeze.
| 1393 Gower Conf. III. 96 So as the fire it hath aneled, Lich unto slime, which is congeled. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xi. i. (1495) 381 Whan ayre is congelyd it makyth snowe and hayle. c 1490 Promp. Parv. 90 (MS. K.) Congellyn, congelo. 1555 Eden Decades 325 Wine also and other moist thynges are so conieled that they may bee cutte with knyues. 1600 Hakluyt Voy. (1810) III. 47 Enforced there to ende his life for colde, congealed and frozen to death. 1762 Falconer Shipwr. Proem 41 Where arctic storms congeal eternal snow. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. v. (1879) 88 The ground at the depth of a few feet remains perpetually congealed. 1853 Lyell Princ. Geol. vi. (ed. 9) 80 The carcass of a rhinoceros..taken from the sand in which it must have remained congealed for ages. |
b. To solidify by cooling (not frost).
| 1674 Grew Anat. Plants, Lect. i. 233 The Oyl..at last is congealed, or hardned into a white Fat or Butter. 1686 W. Harris tr. Lemery's Chem. (ed. 2) 41 Congele is to let some matter that is melted fix, or grow into a consistence. |
† 2. To solidify as by freezing, to make crystalline or solid from a fluid state. Obs.
| 1384 [see congealed 2]. c 1400 Test. Love ii. (1560) 291/1 This precious Margarite..discended..from his heauenliche dewe, nourished and congeled in meeknesse. 1555 Eden Decades 39 The water is congeled into moste pure & whyte salte. 1655 W. F. Meteors v. 156 The cause why Stones melt not, as Metalls do..because they are congealed past that degree. 1678 R. R[ussell] tr. Geber i. iii. 6 Filter the Solution, which congeal by gentle Fire. 1727 Philip Quarll (1816) 40 Salt, congealed by the sun. |
† b. To concrete or cement (grains) together.
| 1655 W. F. Meteors v. 138 Sand..consisting of many small bodies which are congealed into stones. |
† c. To condense (vapour) into liquid. Obs.
| 1661 [see congealed 2]. |
3. To make (a liquid) viscid or jelly-like; to stiffen, curdle, clot, coagulate (esp. the blood; often in fig. sense: cf. curdle).
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. (MS. A.) 66 Þanne by grace sum greet drope of blood may be congelid togidere. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 89 b, A precious conserve, and marmelade, being congealed with long seething. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. Induct. ii. 134 Seeing too much sadnesse hath congeal'd your blood. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 310 Cordials made of Spirituous Liquors, add Strength to the Mill, but congeal the Stream. 1847 Longfellow Ev. ii. iii, Here no hungry winter congeals our blood like the rivers. |
4. fig.
| 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iv. (1578) 97 Men can be congeled together into no name of religion either true or false, vnlesse, etc. a 1600 Hooker Eccl. Pol. vi. vi. §17 A heart congealed and hardened in sin. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 118 ¶10 Curiosity..may be dissipated in trifles or congealed by indolence. 1760 Goldsm. Cit. W. lxix, When the people have sufficiently shuddered at that, they are next congealed with a frightful account, etc. 1865 Lecky Ration. I. iv. 390 It was not till about the third century that the moral sentiments..were congealed into an elaborate theology. |
II. intr.
5. To become solid and rigid by freezing; to freeze; to become solid by cooling.
| c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xvii. 79 For þe grete calde and continuele frost þe water congelez in to cristall. 1601 Holland Pliny xiv. xxi, Wine of it owne nature will not congeale and freeze. a 1626 Bacon (J.), In the midst of molten lead, when it beginneth to congeal, make a little dent. 1811 A. T. Thomson Lond. Disp. (1818) 667 When cooled down to -46°, ether congeals in brilliant transparent plates. 1830 Herschel Stud. Nat. Phil. ii. vi. 157 [The temperature] at which quicksilver congeals. |
6. gen. To become solid by a process resembling freezing; † to crystallize, petrify, etc.
| c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) v. 15 Þe water of þe whilk [laake] ilk a ȝere..congelez in to gude salt. 1568 Bible (Bishops') Ex. xv. 8 The fluddes stoode still as an heape, and the deepe water congealed togeather. 1635 N. Carpenter Geog. Del. ii. vi. 93 The Water of it's owne accord congeales into salt. 17.. Berkeley Cave of Dunmore Wks. IV. 504 From each of 'em there distils a drop of clear water, which, congealing at the bottom, forms a round, hard, and white stone. |
† b. To coalesce in a concrete mass. Obs.
| 1586 Cogan Haven Health (1636) 165 Their sliminesse will cause the gravell to congeale, and gather to a stone. |
7. To stiffen into a viscid jelly-like consistency; to coagulate, clot, or curdle, as milk or blood.
| c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xiv. 152 It [Manna] cometh of the dew of heuene, þat falleth vpon the herbes..And it congeleth [Roxb. coagules] & becometh all white & swete. 1541 R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg., The blode that can not congele. 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. xxii. 34 The juyce..causeth the same milke to congeale and crudde. c 1590 Marlowe Faust. v. Wks. (Rtldg.) 86/1 My blood congeals and I can write no more. |
8. fig.
| 1595 Shakes. John ii. i. 479 Least zeale now melted..Coole and congeale againe to what it was. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) I. 210 Now all is over! passion is congealing. 1860 Ruskin Mod. Paint. viii. iii. §5 Their trees always had a tendency to congeal into little acicular thorn-hedges, and never tossed free. |