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Today's Word "deliquesce"

To melt away or to disappear on

Published in Vocabulary

deliquesce \del-ih-KWES\ (intransitive verb) - 1 : To melt away or to disappear as if by melting. 2 : (Chemistry) To dissolve gradually and become liquid by attracting and absorbing moisture from the air, as certain salts, acids, and alkalies. 3 : To become fluid or soft with age, as certain fungi. 4 : To form many small divisions or branches -- used especially of the veins of a leaf.

"I stammered, rubbing my eyes and feeling my bowels deliquesce as soon as he put my life in the past conditional." -- Jon Fasman, 'The Geographer's Library'

 

Deliquesce comes from Latin deliquescere, from de-, "down, from, away" + liquescere, "to melt," from liquere, "to be fluid." It is related to liquid and liquor.


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