Hardening
['hɑːdənɪŋ] or ['hɑrdnɪŋ]
Definition
(noun.) the act of making something harder (firmer or tighter or more compact).
(noun.) the process of becoming hard or solid by cooling or drying or crystallization; 'the hardening of concrete'; 'he tested the set of the glue'.
(noun.) abnormal hardening or thickening of tissue.
Edited by Alta--From WordNet
Definition
(p. pr. & vb. n.) of Harden
(n.) Making hard or harder.
(n.) That which hardens, as a material used for converting the surface of iron into steel.
Typed by Elinor
Examples
- Now this won't do, said John, hardening his heart against the engaging little sinner. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- I have, returned Elinor, colouring likewise, and hardening her heart anew against any compassion for him, I have heard it all. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- After the engraver has worked out the design in intaglio the die is put through the operation of hardening, after which, being cleaned and polished, it is called a matrix. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Of course, the same hardening of the organic conditions affects the physiological structures which are involved in thinking. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Now, they say, said Haley, assuming a candid and confidential air, that this kind o' trade is hardening to the feelings; but I never found it so. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- The plate is then taken to be Harveyized by cementation, hardening, and tempering, as seen in Figs. 260, 261, and 262. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- Misfortune had made Lily supple instead of hardening her, and a pliable substance is less easy to break than a stiff one. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- He was saved from hardening effects by the abundant kindness of his heart and his belief that human life might be made better. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- In many cases, it is a gradual hardening process on both sides,--the owner growing more and more cruel, as the servant more and more callous. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- Without some new dynamic force America, for all her tradition, is not immune to a hardening formalism. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Processes for hardening steel, as the Harveyized steel, have given rise to a contest between irresistible projectiles and impenetrable armour plate. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
Editor: Nettie