Recongeal

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To thicken or solidify once more after having turned liquid, as blood or fat sometimes does when it cools a second time
2. Becoming firm and jelly-like again after a substance has melted or softened, through a renewed process of cooling and setting
3. Returning to a solid or semi-solid state after having been liquefied, so that a mass that had loosened gels together once more

Etymology: "Recongeal" is a plain formation: the prefix "re-", meaning "again", attached to "congeal", so the whole word means to solidify once more. The prefix comes from Latin "re-", which English has used productively for centuries to mark repetition or return, as in "rewrite" or "reheat". The base word "congeal" has a more striking history. It traces back to Latin "congelare", formed from "con-", meaning "together" or "thoroughly", and "gelare", "to freeze", from "gelu", "frost" or "cold". The sense is literal: to freeze together, or to become solid through cold. Latin "congelare" passed through Old French into Middle English, and "congeal" in English still carries that physical sense of thickening or setting, most often said of blood or fat cooling into a solid mass.

Synonyms: solidify, coagulate

Antonyms: liquefy, melt