sublimation
(sʌblɪˈmeɪʃən)
Also 4–5 -acion, 5 -lym-, -acioun, -acyon.
[a. F. sublimation (from 14th c.), or ad. late L. sublīmātio, -ōnem, n. of action f. sublīmāre to sublime. Cf. It. sublimazione, Sp. sublimacion, Pg. sublima{cced}ão.]
1. a. The chemical action or process of subliming or converting a solid substance by means of heat into vapour, which resolidifies on cooling.
1390 Gower Conf. II. 86 He mot..kepe in his entencion The point of sublimacion. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 351 This is þe maner of sublimacioun, loke þou haue a strong vessel maad of glas þat it mowe dure in þe fier [etc.]. 1460–70 Bk. Quinte Essence 4 Þe quint essencia þerof is naturaly incorruptible þe which ȝe schal drawe out by sublymacioun. 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. iii. 89 Distillations, calcinations, and sublimations. 1605 Timme Quersit. i. vii. 28 The common armoniac..in the forme of most white and salt meale, may be carried up into the cloudes by sublimation. 1657 Physical Dict., Sublimation, is a chymical operation, when the elevated matter in distillation, being carried to the highest part of the helm, and finding no passage forth, sticks to the sides thereof. 1719 Quincy Phys. Dict. (1722) 414 The Sublimation of Camphire, Benzoin, and Arsenick. 1816 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 302 Sublimation is to dry matters, what distillation is to humid ones. 1867 Bloxam Chem. 114 These crystals are moderately heated in an iron pan to deprive them of tar, and are finally purified by sublimation. 1880 Story-Maskelyne in Nature XXI. 204 It is possible..that the condition for its [viz. carbon's] sublimation in the form of crystals..is one involving a combination of high temperature and high pressure. |
attrib. 1896 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. LXX. ii. 635 Sublimation Temperatures in the Cathode-Light Vacuum. Ibid. 636 The sublimation tension of iodine at various temperatures. |
b. Geol. Applied to a (supposed) analogous process by which minerals are thrown up in a state of vapour from the interior of the earth and deposited nearer its surface.
1829 Phil. Mag. Mar. 174 The conjecture, that galena in these veins has been in some instances supplied by sublimation from below. 1879 Encycl. Brit. X. 260/2. |
attrib. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Sublimation-theory, the theory that a vein was filled first with metallic vapors. 1894 Foster Ore & Stone Mining 17 One great objection to the universal acceptance of the sublimation theory is that many of the minerals found in lodes would be decomposed at high temperatures. 1902 Webster Suppl., Sublimation vein,..a vein formed by condensation of material from the condition of vapor. |
c. (The condition of) being in the form of vapour as the result of sublimation.
1808 Med. Jrnl. XIX. 12 Lead..taken in a state of sublimation into the lungs. 1856 Page Adv. Text-bk. Geol. xvi. 304 Products which issue in a state of sublimation from the craters of active volcanoes. |
2. A solid substance deposited as the result of the cooling of vapour arising from sublimation or a similar process.
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. ii. iv. 82 A fat and unctuous sublimation in the earth concreted and fixed by salt and nitrous spirits. 1652 Benlowes Theoph. xiii. xxxvi, From pretious Limbeck sacred Loves distill Such Sublimations, as do fill Mindes with amazed Raptures of their Chimick Skill. 1867 J. Hogg Microsc. i. iii. 214 Dr. Guy brought under the notice of microscopists a plan for preserving metallic sublimations. 1869 Phillips Vesuv. v. 152 Fenic chloride (muriate of iron) is found among the sublimations of Vesuvius. 1892 Daily News 3 Sept. 6/5 A magnificent lava-grotto all coated with beautiful sulphuric sublimations. |
† 3. = sublation 1.
Obs.1547 Recorde Urinal Phys. (1651) 16 If it [sc. sediment] be so light, that it swim in the middle region of the urine, then it is called the sublimation or swim. 1625 Hart Anat. Urines i. iii. 34 The urine in this disease was..variable and inconstant in the swimme and sublimation. |
† 4. Elevation to high rank.
Obs.c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 234 A hertelie ioy..þat he tuke when he hard tell of þe sublimacion of his fadur. |
5. a. Elevation to a higher state or plane of existence; transmutation into something higher, purer, or more sublime.
1615 Jackson Creed iv. iii. viii. §5 By the assistance of that grace whose infusion alone must worke the sublimation. a 1652 J. Smith Sel. Disc. vii. iv. (1821) 334 That perfection of which they speak..was nothing else but a mere sublimation of their own natural powers and principles. 1764 Reid Inquiry vii. 206 The new system by a kind of metaphysical sublimation converted all the qualities of matter into sensations. 1824 Jefferson Writ. (1830) IV. 387 Every individual of my associates will look..to the sublimation of its [the University's] character. 1866 F. Harper Peace through Truth 299 This supernatural sublimation of man's nature. |
b. An elated or ecstatic state of mind.
1816 T. L. Peacock Headlong Hall v, That enthusiastic sublimation which is the source of greatness and energy. 1884 Harper's Mag. LXIX. 469 The world has long sought an antidote to seasickness... It is sublimation. 1891 Hardy Tess xliii, Tess's unassisted power of dreaming..being enough for her sublimation at present, she declined except the merest sip. |
c. Psychoanalysis. The refining of instinctual energy,
esp. that of the sexual impulse, and its manifestation in ways that are socially more acceptable.
1910 A. A. Brill tr. Freud's Three Contrib. Sexual Theory 58 It must be through these roads that the attraction of the sexual motive powers to other than sexual aims, the sublimation of sexuality, is accomplished. 1920 B. Low Outl. Psycho-Anal. (ed. 2) iii. 81 If the sublimation-process can afford an adequate outlet for the psychic energy accompanying the primitive desires, we achieve a fairly satisfactory adjustment. 1925 I. A. Richards Princ. Lit. Crit. xxxi. 232 If we do not extend the ‘sublimation’ theory too far..it may be granted that in some cases the explanation is in place. 1943 H. Reed Educ. through Art vi. 177 Sublimation is thus the transformation of instinctive egoistic drives, wishes and desires onto socially useful or socially approved thoughts, ideals and activities. 1957 G. Faber Jowett v. 84 [His] extraordinary energy..may, perhaps, have been derived..from a perpetual ‘sublimation’ of the energy which most men release in acts of sex. 1977 R. L. Wolff Gains & Losses vii. 404 Zoe..is the first novel to sound the notes which novelists were so often to repeat. Scepticism of Christian evidences, sublimation of doubt in sex, [etc.]. |
6. a. The result of such elevation or transmutation; the purest or most concentrated product (
of); the highest stage or point (
of); a height (
of).
1691 d'Emiliane's Frauds Rom. Monks (ed. 3) 287 That they may authorize their neat Thoughts and high Sublimations of Wit. a 1693 South Serm. (1727) II. 199 It is (as it were) the very Quintessence and Sublimation of Vice, by which (as in the Spirit of Liquors) the Malignity of many Actions is contracted into a little Compass. 1828 De Quincey Rhet. Wks. 1862 X. 39 The last sublimation of dialectical subtlety. 1831 D. E. Williams Life Sir T. Lawrence II. 37 The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, must be the sublimation aspired to. 1856 Miss Mulock John Halifax xi, His demeanour..was the sublimation of all manly courtesy. 1863 M. E. Braddon Eleanor's Vict. xxiv, A woman's love is the sublimation of..selfishness. 1874 Hardy Far from Madding Crowd xl, That acme and sublimation of all dismal sounds, the bark of a fox. |
b. Psychoanalysis. The result of the refinement or transmutation of sexual or instinctual energy.
1926 Internat. Jrnl. Psycho-Anal. VII. 44 Thus Leonardo's genital activity..was wholly merged in his sublimations. 1955 H. Hartmann in A. Freud Psychoanal. Study of Child X. 13 We know much more about the origin of specific contents of sublimations. 1973 Jrnl. Genetic Psychol. Mar. 153 It is out of the basic societal repression/inhibition of drives that sublimations are born. |
Hence
subliˈmational a.1934 in Webster. 1935 Mind XLIV. 348 Sublimational, substitutional or Changeling psychology may be Freudian, but it surely is not the only ‘scientific’ psychology. 1943 A. Huxley Let. 4 Mar. (1969) 487 A revival of cerebrotonic philosophy in some..form, with a practical system of sublimational outlets, seems to be the only hope. |