devitrify

American  

[dee-vi-truh-fahy] / diˈvɪ trəˌfaɪ /

verb (used with object)

devitrified, devitrifying

1. Chemistry. to deprive, wholly or partly, of vitreous character or properties.

---

verb (used without object)

devitrified, devitrifying

1. Petrology. (of a volcanic rock or particle) to undergo a change in texture from glassy to crystalline.

devitrify British  

/ diːˈvɪtrɪˌfaɪ /

verb

1. to change from a vitreous state to a crystalline state

2. to lose or cause to lose the properties of a glass and become brittle and opaque

---

Other Word Forms

• devitrifiable adjective
• devitrification noun

Etymology

Origin of devitrify

First recorded in 1825–35; de- + vitrify

Example Sentences

If either of these precautions are neglected most glass will devitrify badly.

From The Methods of Glass Blowing and of Working Silica in the Oxy-Gas Flame For the use of chemical and physical students by Shenstone, W. A.

Good glass does not readily devitrify when held in the blow-pipe flame.

From The Methods of Glass Blowing and of Working Silica in the Oxy-Gas Flame For the use of chemical and physical students by Shenstone, W. A.

Bad soda-glass or that which has been kept for many years, tends to devitrify when worked.

From A Handbook of Laboratory Glass-Blowing by Bolas, Bernard D.

Long-buried glassy lavas devitrify, or pass to a stony condition, under the unceasing action of underground waters; but their flow lines and perlitic and spherulitic structures remain to tell of their original state.

From The Elements of Geology by Norton, William Harmon

Poor glass, badly prepared window-glass, and glass which has been subjected to strain tend to devitrify on exposure to air, some of the ingredients separating in a crystalline form.

From The New Gresham Encyclopedia Volume 4, Part 1: Deposition to Eberswalde by Various