Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act, process, or operation of softening and almost dissolving by steeping in a fluid. See macerate, 1.
  • noun The act or process of macerating or making lean or thin; the state of being macerated; leanness.

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

  • noun The act or process of macerating.

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

  • noun The act or process of macerating.

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

  • noun softening due to soaking or steeping
  • noun extreme leanness (usually caused by starvation or disease)

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin maceratio.

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Examples

  • In Provence, this process, known as maceration, is very short, which gives the wine a light color and a very delicate feel.

    A First Taste of Summer Will lyons 2010

  • Egg producers notably defend grinding up of newly hatched male chicks -- called maceration -- and other "euthanasia" on business rather than humane grounds.

    Egg Eaters Horrified At the Daily Grind at Hatcheries 2009

  • The third and final type of case which may confront the identification officer concerns the problem of maceration, that is, long immersion of the fingers in water.

    The Science of Fingerprints Classification and Uses United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation 1933

  •  Protect the skin from too much moisture: When skin gets too wet - a condition called maceration - it is more likely to break down.

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows abdulrehmanm 2009

  • The color will deepen as well; it's basically the "maceration" process.

    Maria Rodale: The Cranberry Sauce Controversy 2009

  • We have, on a previous occasion, described the process of "maceration" or "enfleurage," that is, the impregnation of purified fat with the aroma of certain scented flowers which do not yield any essential oil in paying quantities.

    Scientific American Supplement, No. 288, July 9, 1881 Various

  • The color will deepen as well; it's basically the "maceration" process.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com 2009

  • The book features detailed descriptions of the techniques of scent extraction such as maceration and enfleurage. "

    AlterNet.org Main RSS Feed 2009

  • The book features detailed descriptions of the techniques of scent extraction such as maceration and enfleurage. "

    AlterNet.org Main RSS Feed 2009

  • On the other end, you have the winemakers who treat cabernet franc like it's cabernet sauvignon blanc, extending maceration and bludgeoning it with new oak.

    Tasting Notes 2009

Comments

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  • "Sewage treatment at Davis station has for years been limited to maceration before the waste is dumped into the sea."

    - Andrew Darby, Big stink brews in Antarctica, theage.com.au, 3 September 2009.

    September 3, 2009

  • "Ancient perfumes and unguents were a good deal weaker than their modern equivalents, there being no way of isolating the powerful essential oils that enable modern perfumes to pack such a punch, based on alcohol, synthetic chemicals, and essential oils isolated by the process of distillation. In their place, the ancient perfumer obtained his perfumes by soaking aromatics in fat or oil, which was then gently heated (maceration) or left to sit unheated (enfleurage). The end product was commonly worn on clothes and hair or, alternatively, poured onto a brazier and burned (the modern word itself derives from the Latin per fumum, 'through the smoke')."

    --Jack Turner, _Spice: The History of a Temptation_ (NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004), 208-9

    December 5, 2016