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American Dictionary of the English Language

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Congeal


CONGEAL, verb transitive [Latin , to freeze, has the elements of cool, but it may be a different word.]

1. To change from a fluid to a solid sate, as by cold, or a loss of heat, as water in freezing, liquid metal or wax in cooling, blood in stagnating or cooling, etc.; to harden into ice, or into a substance of less solidity. Cold congeals water into ice, or vapor into hoar frost or snow, and blood into a less solid mass, or clot.

2. To bind or fix with cold. Applied to the circulating blood, it does not signify absolutely to harden, but to cause a sensation of cold, a shivering, or a receding of the blood from the extremities; as, the frightful scene congealed his blood.

CONGEAL, verb intransitive To grow hard, stiff or thick; to pass from a fluid to a solid state; to concrete into a solid mass. Melted lead congelas; water congeals; blood congeals.