deliquesce

American  

[del-i-kwes] / ˌdɛl ɪˈkwɛs /

verb (used without object)

deliquesced, deliquescing

1. to become liquid by absorbing moisture from the air, as certain salts.

2. to melt away.

3. Botany. to form many small divisions or branches.

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deliquesce British  

/ ˌdɛlɪˈkwɛs /

verb

1. (esp of certain salts) to dissolve gradually in water absorbed from the air

2. (esp of certain fungi) to dissolve into liquid, usually at maturity

3. (of a plant stem) to form many branches

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Etymology

Origin of deliquesce

First recorded in 1750–60; from Latin dēliquēscere “to become liquid,” equivalent to dē- de- + liquēscere; liquescent

Example Sentences

Shivaree, chthonian, erumpent, tintinnabulation, exonumia, requiescat, deipnosophist, omphaloskepsis, horripilation, deliquesce, apopemptic.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 26, 2021

Then, surprise: a secret chamber filled with the yolk of a hard-boiled egg, bright yellow and just starting to deliquesce.

From New York Times • Jul. 19, 2012

The home-schooled whiz was such a wreck, she asked to wait offstage between spelling such words as deliquesce and sufflaminate.

From Time Magazine Archive

In this figure one can see the change in color of the gills just at the time when they begin to deliquesce.

From Studies of American Fungi. Mushrooms, Edible, Poisonous, etc. by Atkinson, George Francis

The plant at the extreme right has expanded and begun to deliquesce.

From The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise Its Habitat and its Time of Growth by Hard, Miron Elisha