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MELTING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The process whereby heat changes something from a solid to a liquid
Example:
the thawing of a frozen turkey takes several hours
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural processes
Hypernyms ("melting" is a kind of...):
heating; warming (the process of becoming warmer; a rising temperature)
phase change; phase transition; physical change; state change (a change from one state (solid or liquid or gas) to another without a change in chemical composition)
Derivation:
melt (become or cause to become soft or liquid)
melt (reduce or cause to be reduced from a solid to a liquid state, usually by heating)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Becoming liquid
Synonyms:
liquescent; melting
Classified under:
Similar:
unfrozen (not frozen)
III. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb melt
Context examples:
Sequence-variant molecules are preferentially selected by the lower melting temperature of their mismatched heteroduplex after they've annealed to a wild-type molecule that is present in excess.
(COLD-PCR, NCI Thesaurus)
However, as climate change raises global air temperatures, it is possible that East Antarctic glaciers could start melting, a change that could make the ice sheet shift back into unstable territory.
(Massive East Antarctic Ice Sheet has history of instability, National Science Foundatio)
Issue associated with the device producing high temperatures, such that its operation is compromised (e.g. overheating that produces melting of components or automatic shutdown).
(Overheating of Medical Device or Device Component, Food and Drug Administration)
She was speaking very slowly, her eyes warm and fluttery and melting, a soft flush on her cheeks that did not go away.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Kneeling at the foot of the tower, he sang a serenade in melting tones.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
The torrent, swollen by the melting snow, plunges into a tremendous abyss, from which the spray rolls up like the smoke from a burning house.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
She looked at him with melting eyes, and he, too, seemed all dew and melting.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
"I'm very sorry, indeed," said Dorothy, who was truly frightened to see the Witch actually melting away like brown sugar before her very eyes.
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
Still, massive increases in surface melting due to unusually warm weather can trigger catastrophic ice-shelf collapses.
(Reframing the dangers Antarctica's meltwater ponds pose to ice shelves and sea level, National Science Foundation)
In this scale, the freezing point of water is 32 degrees Fahrenheit and the boiling point is 212 degrees, placing the boiling and melting points of water 180 degrees apart.
(Degree Fahrenheit, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)
