capillarity

noun

Etymology: From French capillarité.

1. The interaction between the surfaces of a solid and liquid in contact that distorts the normal geometry of the liquid surface; especially the rise or fall of a liquid in a fine tube.

   “Hence the allowance to be made for diminution of the height of a mercurial column, owing to capillarity, is determined by two considerations — the diameter of the tube and versed sine of the corresponding meniscus.”