saturation

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The act or process of saturating.
2. n. The condition of being saturated.
3. n. The condition of being full to or beyond satisfaction; satiety.
4. n. Physics A state of a ferromagnetic substance in which an increase in applied magnetic field strength does not produce an increase in magnetization.
5. n. Chemistry The state of a compound or solution that is fully saturated.
6. n. Meteorology A condition in which air at a specific temperature contains all the water vapor it can hold; 100 percent relative humidity.
7. n. Vividness of hue; degree of difference from a gray of the same lightness or brightness. Also called intensity. See Table at color.
8. n. Intensive shelling or bombing of a military target to achieve total destruction.
9. n. The flooding of a market with all of a commodity that consumers can purchase.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The act of saturating or supplying to fullness, or the state of being saturated; complete penetration or impregnation. Specifically— In chem., the combination or impregnation of one substance with another in such proportions that they neutralize each other, or till the receiving substance can contain no more. The saturation of an alkali by an acid is effected by chemical combination; the saturation of water by salt is by the process of solution. A fluid which holds in solution as much of any substance as it can dissolve is said to be saturated with it; but saturation with one substance does not deprive the fluid of its power of acting on and dissolving some other substances, and in many cases it increases this power. For example, water saturated with salt will still dissolve sugar.
2. n. In the saturation of a liquid with a solid by solution, the quantity of the solid dissolved varies largely, in most cases, with varying temperature, the general rule being that rise of temperature is attended with increase in the quantity of the solid needed to produce saturation. In the saturation of a liquid with a dissolved gas the opposite relation prevails, as more of the gas is required to produce saturation at a low than at a high temperature, and in this case the influence of pressure is also very marked, increase of pressure being attended with increase in the quantity of gas needed to produce saturation.
3. n. In biology, the hypothetical influence of an unborn offspring upon the body or the reproductive organs of the mother in such a way that children afterward borne by the mother to other sires resemble the first sire: a hypothesis to account for telegony. See telegony.
4. n. In physical chemistry, the amount of a dissolved substance contained in a given volume of a solution, stated as a fraction of the amount of the dissolved substance contained in a solution saturated at the same temperature.

Wiktionary

1. n. the act of saturating or the process of being saturated
2. n. physics the condition in which, after a sufficient increase in a causal force, no further increase in the resultant effect is possible; e.g. the state of a ferromagnetic material that cannot be further magnetized
3. n. chemistry the state of a saturated solution
4. n. chemistry the state of an organic compound that has no double or triple bonds
5. n. meteorology the state of the atmosphere when it is saturated with water vapour; 100% humidity
6. n. the intensity or vividness of a colour
7. n. intense bombing of a military target with the aim of destroying it
8. n. the flooding of a market with all of a product that can be sold
9. n. music an effect on the sound of an electric guitar, used primarily in heavy metal music

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The act of saturating, or the state of being saturating; complete penetration or impregnation.
2. n. (Chem.) The act, process, or result of saturating a substance, or of combining it to its fullest extent.
3. n. (Optics) Freedom from mixture or dilution with white; purity; -- said of colors.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. chromatic purity: freedom from dilution with white and hence vivid in hue
2. n. the process of totally saturating something with a substance
3. n. the act of soaking thoroughly with a liquid
4. n. a condition in which a quantity no longer responds to some external influence