Alkalinise

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To render a substance alkaline by adding a base or raising its pH so that it becomes less acidic
2. To make a liquid or soil more basic by introducing alkaline material that neutralizes acids
3. To change something into an alkaline condition, reducing its acidity through the addition of a basic agent

Etymology: Alkalinise is a plain English formation: the adjective "alkaline" with the verb-forming suffix "-ise" added to it, meaning to make something alkaline. The suffix itself has a long pedigree. It passed from ancient Greek, where verbs ended in "-izein" or "-izō", into Late Latin as "-izāre", then through Old French, which wrote it as "-iser", and into Middle English as "-isen". Over the centuries it became one of the most productive verb endings in English, and it attaches to adjectives and nouns with little ceremony. The adjective "alkaline" is the more interesting half. It descends from "alkali", a word borrowed from Arabic "al-qaly", a name for the calcined ashes of certain plants, which were prized as a source of soda for making glass and soap. Chemists later extended "alkaline" to any substance with the properties of such ashes. So "alkalinise" carries a trace of the medieval glassmaker's workshop: to alkalinise something is to make it behave like those ashes.

Synonyms: alkalinize, alkalize, basify

Antonyms: acidify, acidulate