Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To subject (glass or metal) to a process of heating and slow cooling in order to toughen and reduce brittleness.
  • intransitive verb To strengthen or harden.
  • intransitive verb To become strengthened or hardened.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Same as aneal.
  • Originally, to set on fire; kindle.
  • To heat, fire, bake, or fuse, as glass, earthenware, ores, etc.
  • To heat, as glass, earthenware, or metals, in order to fix colors; enamel.
  • To treat, as glass, earthenware, or metals, by heating and gradually cooling, so as to toughen them and remove their brittleness.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To subject to great heat, and then cool slowly, as glass, cast iron, steel, or other metal, for the purpose of rendering it less brittle; to temper; to toughen.
  • transitive verb To heat, as glass, tiles, or earthenware, in order to fix the colors laid on them.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb metallurgy To subject to great heat, and then cool slowly for the purpose of rendering less brittle; to temper; to toughen.
  • verb To strengthen or harden.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb bring to a desired consistency, texture, or hardness by a process of gradually heating and cooling

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English anelen, from Old English onǣlan, to set fire to : on, on; see on + ǣlan, to kindle.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English anelen, onelen, from Old English anǣlan, onǣlan ("to set fire to, ignite, heat, inspire, incite, kindle, inflame, enlighten, burn, consume"), from Proto-Germanic *ana (“on”) + Proto-Germanic *ailijanan (“to burn”), from Proto-Indo-European *aidʰ- (“to burn”). Related to Old English onāl ("burning, incense, that which is burnt"), Old English āl ("fire, burning"), Icelandic eldur ("fire"), Swedish eld ("fire, flame"), Danish ild ("fire").

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Examples

  • (For the record: I pronounce it like the word "anneal", used in glassmaking.)

    Say My Name Say My Name - Anil Dash 2009

  • The Windows.l. 6. 'anneal', i.e. fix the colours by heating the glass.

    Notes: Divine Poems. Grierson, Herbert J.C Herbert J.C. Grierson 1921

  • I find that when a neck splits, or the neck won't hold the bullet, it is time to anneal that whole lot.

    How Handloading Can Improve Your Love Life 2009

  • I find that when a neck splits, or the neck won't hold the bullet, it is time to anneal that whole lot.

    How Handloading Can Improve Your Love Life 2009

  • He made the dies, and promoted the idea, and prospered, but I have, and still use, an original die set and it is not RCBS. Since the advent of high velosity .22 LR ammo, one must anneal the hulls before forming them into jackets, and the whole process becomes very time consuming and tedious, maybe not worth the effort, in spite of the high cost of bullets.

    Useful? You Bet Your R.A.S.S. 2008

  • If you don't anneal the glass then you are producing a walking time-bomb: I knew someone who had had a paperweight for ten years, and then one sunny day it simply went off, exploding and spraying shards of glass all over his living room.

    The Allure of Hot Glass Heather McDougal 2007

  • If you don't anneal the glass then you are producing a walking time-bomb: I knew someone who had had a paperweight for ten years, and then one sunny day it simply went off, exploding and spraying shards of glass all over his living room.

    Archive 2007-08-01 Heather McDougal 2007

  • Maybe the…Aspects…the Auspicates of the one who lightnings, maybe they can help, maybe they can anneal me.

    Wildfire Sarah Micklem 2009

  • I plan to batch anneal my creations after they're done.

    Fusing Glass in the Microwave Studio Marcy - Marcy Lamberson 2009

  • Maybe the…Aspects…the Auspicates of the one who lightnings, maybe they can help, maybe they can anneal me.

    Wildfire Sarah Micklem 2009

Comments

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  • In coinmaking, to heat a die or planchet to soften the metal before preparing the die or before striking the coin.

    April 21, 2008