sensitize, v.
(ˈsɛnsɪtaɪz)
[f. sensit-ive + -ize.]
1. trans. (Photogr.) To render (a plate, film or paper) sensitive to the influence of light.
| 1856 R. F. Barnes Dry Collodion Process 31 The bath I employ for sensitizing dry plates. 1858 T. Sutton Dict. Photogr. 12 Albumen..is not so sensitive as collodion..; but..it will keep longer when sensitized. 1865 J. Wylde's Circ. Sci. I. 153/1 Nitrate of silver..is the salt usually employed to sensitise the paper. 1879 Leake Photogr. in Cassell's Tech. Educ. IV. 323/2 A plate should now be coated with collodion in the tent, and sensitised in the usual manner. |
2. To make (a person) sensitive (in various senses of the adj.).
| 1880 Wingfield In Her Majesty's Keeping I. 70 Education, while it sensitises a man's fibre, is incapable of turning weakness into strength. 1978 Dædalus Spring 228 It is..reasonable to hope that the fraction of abuses, mistakes, surprises, and other alarming problems will drop as the professionals involved become more and more sensitized to the possibility of such problems. |
3. Physiol. To render (an organ or organism) sensitive to the presence of some agent; esp. to render (the immune system) sensitive to the presence of antibody. Also absol.
| 1904 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 10 Sept. 559/2 These bacteria are previously sensitized by union with a substance existing in the plasma. 1909 Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. 30 Oct. 1473/1 The substance which is produced in the corpus luteum and which sensitizes the mucosa of the uterus has a specific affinity to the uterine tissue. 1922 Jrnl. Physiol. LVI. 143 The presence of free CO2 ‘sensitises’ the nerve cells to H ions. 1947 Ann. Rev. Microbiol. I. 305 It would be of great interest to identify the fraction or fractions which exert the adjuvant effect of myco⁓bacteria and to know whether the effect could be produced without sensitizing to tuberculin. 1970 Passmore & Robson Compan. Med. Stud. II. xxii. 12/1 IgM antibodies are unable to sensitize tissues for anaphylactic reactions..although IgG and IgA molecules, are able to do so. |
Hence ˈsensitized ppl. a.; ˈsensitizing vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1861 Photogr. News Alm. in J. Wylde's Circ. Sci. (1865) I. 160/2 A thirty-five grain nitrate bath,..is the best sensitising solution. 1864 Roscoe in Reader 24 Sept. 386/3 It was necessary to construct an apparatus in which photographic sensitized paper could be exposed to the sunlight for definite times. 1877 Mallock New Republic iii. iii. II. 50 Culture is..the sensitising of the mental palate—the making it a good taster. 1886 Lowell Harvard Anniv. Wks. 1890 VI. 139 It is not their antiquity, but its association with man, that endows them [sc. ancient buildings] with such sensitizing potency. 1909 Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. 30 Oct. 1471/2, I have..been able to ascribe a definite function to the corpus luteum, namely, that of supplying a sensitizing substance to the uterus which prepares the latter to respond with the production of the maternal placenta, if an external stimulus of a mechanical nature is added. Ibid. 1472/1 We wished..to select the safest period for the egg to attach itself to a sensitized uterine mucosa. Ibid. 1473/1 This process of sensitizing enables the connective tissue of the uterine mucosa to proliferate periodically. 1941 Nature 26 July 116/1 The small, often-repeated doses of these drugs..provide a chance for the patient to become sensitized to the drug. 1947 Ann. Rev. Microbiol. I. 299 For the rapid production of allergic encephalitis in both the monkey and the guinea pig the presence of myco⁓bacteria in the sensitizing injection seems to be essential. 1978 Price's Textbk. Practice of Med. (ed. 12) iv. 381/1 The signs and symptoms of generalized anaphylaxis that may follow..the parenteral injection of foreign serum, protein, or drugs, or sometimes even insect bites or stings in a sensitized individual, include a marked fall in blood pressure [etc.]. |