Liquations

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The processes or acts of melting or causing to melt; the separation or clarification of substances by melting; the conversion of a solid into liquid form
2. Methods involving the transition of materials to a liquid state for purification or analysis; the action of dissolving by heat; the breaking down of solids into liquids through controlled melting
3. Phenomena where solid matter is transformed into liquid by applying heat; techniques used to separate mixtures by liquefaction; procedures that result in the fluidization of substances previously solid

Etymology: "Liquations" is the plural of "liquation", a noun for the melting of a solid into a liquid by heat, and for the metallurgical and chemical techniques that separate mixtures by means of it. The singular comes straight from Latin "liquātiō", a noun formed from "liquāre", meaning to melt or make liquid, and that verb is itself built on "liquidus", the source of English "liquid". The Latin root gives the word its physical core: something that was solid becomes something that flows. In practice the term belongs mostly to older metallurgy and chemistry, where heating an alloy so that one component melted out and drained away was a way of separating metals from their mixtures. The plural form is used when referring to several such processes or instances of melting.

Synonyms: melting, fusion, thawing

Antonyms: solidification, freezing