decrepitate
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Medieval Latin dēcrepitō, from Latin dē- + crepitō.
Pronunciation
[edit]Verb
[edit]decrepitate (third-person singular simple present decrepitates, present participle decrepitating, simple past and past participle decrepitated)
- (transitive) To roast (a salt or mineral) until it stops crackling in the fire.
- 1646, Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, Folio, published 2007, page 333:
- so will it come to pass in a pot of salt, although decrepitated; and so also in a pot of Snow.
- (intransitive) Of salts and minerals, to crackle when heated, indicating a sudden breakdown of their particles.
- 1837, Magazine of Popular Science, and Journal of the Useful Arts, page 77:
- It is, however, remarkable, that the greater number of bodies which decrepitate, are really anhydrous and fixed, such as sulphate of potash, sulphate of barytes, chloride of sodium, &c.
- 1907, M. M. Pattison Muir, A History of Chemical Theories and Laws[1], page 202:
- That substance was called salt, because, according to some authors, it is obtained by the action of the sun (sol) on sea-water, according to others, because it decrepitates in the fire (exsilire=to crackle and spring about).