devitrify
Americanverb (used with object)
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Chemistry. to deprive, wholly or partly, of vitreous character or properties.
verb (used without object)
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Petrology. (of a volcanic rock or particle) to undergo a change in texture from glassy to crystalline.
verb
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to change from a vitreous state to a crystalline state
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to lose or cause to lose the properties of a glass and become brittle and opaque
Other Word Forms
- devitrifiable adjective
- devitrification noun
Etymology
Origin of devitrify
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Long-buried glassy lavas devitrify, or pass to a stony condition, under the unceasing action of underground waters; but their flow lines and perlitic and spherulitic structures remain to tell of their original state.
From The Elements of Geology by Norton, William Harmon
Bad soda-glass or that which has been kept for many years, tends to devitrify when worked.
From A Handbook of Laboratory Glass-Blowing by Bolas, Bernard D.
If either of these precautions are neglected most glass will devitrify badly.
From The Methods of Glass Blowing and of Working Silica in the Oxy-Gas Flame For the use of chemical and physical students by Shenstone, W. A.
Good glass does not readily devitrify when held in the blow-pipe flame.
From The Methods of Glass Blowing and of Working Silica in the Oxy-Gas Flame For the use of chemical and physical students by Shenstone, W. A.
Poor glass, badly prepared window-glass, and glass which has been subjected to strain tend to devitrify on exposure to air, some of the ingredients separating in a crystalline form.
From The New Gresham Encyclopedia Volume 4, Part 1: Deposition to Eberswalde by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.