calcine
verb
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L331070 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈkælsaɪn/ / /-sɪn/ / /kælˈsaɪn/
noun
Etymology: The verb is derived from Late Middle English calcinen (“(alchemy, medicine) to heat (something) until it turns to powder; to change the nature of (something) by heating”) [and other forms], from Old French calciner (modern French calciner (“to calcinate; to calcine”)) and from its etymon Medieval Latin calcināre (“(alchemy) to burn like lime; to reduce to calx”), from Late Latin calcīna (“inorganic material containing calcium, lime”) + -āre (suffix forming present active infinitive forms of verbs). Calcīna is derived from Latin calcis, the genitive singular of calx (“chalk; limestone”), possibly from Ancient Greek χᾰ́λῐξ (khắlĭx, “small stone, pebble; gravel, rubble”); further etymology unknown, possibly Pre-Greek. The noun is derived from the verb.
- Something calcined; also, material left over after burning or roasting.
verb
Etymology: The verb is derived from Late Middle English calcinen (“(alchemy, medicine) to heat (something) until it turns to powder; to change the nature of (something) by heating”) [and other forms], from Old French calciner (modern French calciner (“to calcinate; to calcine”)) and from its etymon Medieval Latin calcināre (“(alchemy) to burn like lime; to reduce to calx”), from Late Latin calcīna (“inorganic material containing calcium, lime”) + -āre (suffix forming present active infinitive forms of verbs). Calcīna is derived from Latin calcis, the genitive singular of calx (“chalk; limestone”), possibly from Ancient Greek χᾰ́λῐξ (khắlĭx, “small stone, pebble; gravel, rubble”); further etymology unknown, possibly Pre-Greek. The noun is derived from the verb.
- To heat (a substance) to remove its impurities and refine it.
- To heat (a substance) without melting in order to drive off water, etc., and to oxidize or reduce it; specifically, to decompose (carbonates) into oxides, and, especially, to heat (limestone) to form quicklime.
“Fire […] burneth and calcineth ſtone, vvhereof is made that morter vvhich bindeth all vvork in maſonry.”
“I ſent you of his fæces there, calcin'd. / Out of that calx, I'ha'vvonne the ſalt of Mercurie.”
- To heat (something) to dry and sterilize it.
- To purify or refine (something).
- To burn up (something) completely; to incinerate; hence, to destroy (something).
“[A]s his death calcined thee to duſt, / His life may make thee gold, and much more juſt.”
“I vvould gladly knovv hovv Moſes vvith an actuall fire calcin'd or burnt the Golden Calfe unto povvder, for that myſticall metall of Gold, vvhoſe ſolary and celeſtiall nature I admire, expoſed unto the violence of fire, grovveth onely hot and liquifies, but conſumeth not: […]”
- Of a substance: to undergo heating so as to oxidize it.
“This Cryſtal is a pellucid fiſſile Stone, clear as Water or Cryſtal of the Rock, and without Colour; enduring a red Heat without loſing its tranſparency, and in a very ſtrong Heat calcining without Fuſion.”