▪ I. † condense, a. Obs.
[ad. L. condensus, f. con- + densus thick, dense.]
Dense, condensed.
| 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey i. viii. 16 Distinguishing between open and rare soyles, and such as are condense and close. 1652 Earl of Monmouth tr. Bentivoglio's Hist. Relat. 2 Tenacious and condence Materials. 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 353. 1708 Brit. Apollo No. 69. 2/1 Your Breath is rendred..condense by the frigidity of the..Air. 1794 Mathias Purs. Lit. (1798) 325 As from a diamond globe, with rays condense. |
▪ II. condense, v.
(kənˈdɛns)
[prob. ad. F. condense-r, ad. L. condensā-re, f. condens-us condense a.]
1. trans. To make dense, increase the density of; to bring the particles of (a substance) into closer aggregation, so that they occupy a smaller space; to reduce in volume; to compress, thicken, concentrate. Chiefly in Physics. (Mostly in passive.)
| 1477 Norton Ord. Alch. v. in Ashm. (1652) 77 Ayre condensed is turned into Raine, and water rarified becomes Ayre againe. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. iii. (1520) 25b/2 Vyrgyll by connynge condescended [? condensed] or thycked the ayre. 1660 Boyle New Expr. Phys. Mech. xviii. 130 Air..expanded or condens'd by the heat or cold. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 239 Sweet Honey some condense. 1822 J. Imison Sc. & Art I. 146 A square phial may be broken by condensing the air around it. 1875 Jevons Money (1878) 15 At times a person needs to condense his property into the smallest compass. 1875 Ure Dict. Arts III. 243 The Borden process for condensing milk. |
b. Optics. To bring (rays of light) to a focus or into a smaller space, so that the brightness is increased; to concentrate.
| 1787 G. Adams Ess. Microscope 100 A lens..to collect and condense [the light] on the object. 1831 Brewster Optics i. 9 The rays..fall upon the mirror MN, and by reflexion are condensed upon a small space at F. |
c. Electr. To increase the amount or intensity of (a charge of electricity).
| 1782 Volta in Phil. Trans. LXXII. 245 The metal plate..does actually condense or acquire a greater quantity of electricity. 1870 R. M. Ferguson Electr. 94 In this manner, electricity of too low a tension to affect immediately the gold leaves can be condensed, so as to possess the power. |
2. To reduce (a substance) from the form of gas or vapour to the liquid or (rarely) the solid condition, or from the state of invisible gas to that of visible vapour or cloud.
| 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. iii. iv. §5 The air was condensed into clouds. 1713 Derham Phys.-Theol. iii. note 1 (R.) The cold..by condensing, drives the vapours into clouds or drops. 1800 tr. Lagrange's Chem. I. 89 Carbonic acid gas..is not condensed at that degree of pressure and of temperature of the atmosphere in which we live. It remains in the state of gas. 1816 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art II. 311 All the vapours which water will condense. 1865 Lubbock Preh. Times xii. (1869) 391 To produce snow requires both heat and cold; the first to evaporate, the second to condense. |
b. To contain in a condensed state.
| 1801 Southey Thalaba ii. 25 A crystal ring Abdaldar wore; The powerful gem condensed Primeval dews, that upon Caucasus Felt the first winter's frost. |
3. transf. and fig. a. To bring together closely or in small compass.
| 1803 Edin. Rev. II. 87 To condense and agglomerate every species of absurdity. 1810 Scott Lady of L. ii. xvii, Condensed, the battle yelled amain. 1852 Ld. Cockburn Jeffrey I. 142 By the young [Tories] they were viewed with genuine horror. This condensed them the more. |
b. esp. To compress (thought or meaning) into few words; to reduce (a speech or writing) within smaller compass by conciseness of expression. Also absol.
| 1805 N. Nicholls Corr. w. Gray (1843) 37 He..approved an observation of Shenstone, that ‘Pope had the art of condensing a thought’. 1854 Kingsley Lett. (1878) I. 419 People seem surprised at my power of condensing. 1868 J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. I. 49 To have condensed them [his opinions] into the following plan. |
c. To concentrate, intensify.
| 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 125 The servile spirit of Scottish Parliaments..in the highest perfection, extracted and condensed. a 1853 Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. ii. Power concentrated and condensed into the government of Rome. |
4. intr. (for refl.) To become dense; to shrink into a smaller space, become reduced in volume.
| 1704 Newton Opticks (J.), Vapours, when they begin to condense. 1869 Roscoe Elem. Chem. 17, 3 volumes of oxygen condense to form 2 volumes of ozone. |
5. intr. of 2.
| 1655 Culpepper, etc. Riverius i. i. 3 A hot and moist Liver..sends many vapours to the Brain, which there condense or grow thick. 1700 Dryden Fables, Pythag. Philos. 384 Dew condensing does her form forego And sinks a heavy lump of earth below. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 57 Some of the moisture..in the room has condensed upon the glass. |
| fig. 1674 Govt. Tongue ix. §14 (1684) 154 When therefore the recollection of..fancied worth begins to make us aery, let us condense again by the remembrance of our sins. 1889 Spectator 13 Apr., If those fancies, instead of ‘condensing,’ as they ought to condense, into healthy and robust imagination, persist in their puerile forms. |