Crispened

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. to enhance the firmness or sharpness of a texture or quality to amplify the clarity and distinctiveness of an item that may have been previously soft or vague to make a previously indistinct sound or appearance clearer and more defined
2. To cause a texture or surface to become sharper and firmer than before
3. To improve the definition or firmness of something that was once softer or less distinct

Etymology: "Crispened" is the past tense of "crispen," a verb built simply by adding the suffix "-en" to the adjective "crisp." That suffix is an old English verb-forming ending, descended from Old English "-nian" and Middle English "-en," which turned adjectives into verbs meaning "to make or become" the quality they describe. So "to crispen" means to make something crisp, and to crispen something in the sense of "made more distinct" extends that idea from texture to outline, image or detail: a blurred photograph is brought into sharper focus, and its edges are said to be crispened. The adjective "crisp" itself comes from Old English "crisp," meaning curly or curled, from Latin "crispus," which carried the same sense of curled or wavy hair. The meaning shifted from curls to brittle, easily broken texture, and then to clean, sharp edges, which is where the modern figurative sense of distinctness comes from.

Synonyms: hardened, crisped, firmed