deliquescence
(dɛlɪˈkwɛsəns)
[f. deliquescent: see -ence. (So mod.F. 1792 in Hatzf.)]
The process of deliquescing or melting away; esp. the melting or liquefying of a salt by absorption of moisture from the air.
| 1800 Henry Epit. Chem. (1808) 118 This change is termed deliquescence. 1839–47 Todd Cycl. Anat. III. 503/2 The nucleated cells..gradually disappear by a kind of solution or deliquescence. 1863 Hawthorne Our Old Home (1883) I. 259 The English..hurry to the seaside with red, perspiring faces, in a state of combustion and deliquescence. |
| fig. 1881 Spectator 19 Mar. 373 The deliquescence..of beliefs. |
b. concr. The liquid or solution resulting from this process.
| 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters I. 148 This deliquescence or solution always has an acrid taste. 1860 O. W. Holmes Poems, De Sauty, Drops of deliquescence glistened on his forehead. |