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Betcha thought I forgot....
deliquesce \del-ih-KWES\, intransitive verb:
1. To melt away or to disappear as if by melting.
2. (Chemistry) To dissolve gradually and become liquid by attracting and absorbing moisture from the air, as certain salts, acids, and alkalies.
3. To become fluid or soft with age, as certain fungi.
4. To form many small divisions or branches -- used especially of the veins of a leaf.
Examples
"Now it's high summer, the very high point of the high season, and I've just struggled back from Santa Eulalia with the weekly shop, most of which has already deliquesced into an evil-smelling puddle in the back of the car."
-Paul Richardson, "A postcard from Paul Richardson," Independent, August 19, 1996
"His entire countenance seems to deliquesce into a splotch of spreading goo."
-John Simon, "The Underneath," National Review, May 29, 1995
"His indifference toward if not hatred for his mother deliquesced, through the writing of this book, into a recognition of his love for her."
-Leslie Schenk, "Rouge Decante," World Literature Today, June 1, 1996
"The peaches, pears and grapes progressively spot, dimple, crease, wrinkle, acquire brown patches, green bloom, a fuzz of green-grey fungal filaments, deliquesce to a beige-grey Roquefort and finally compost to a browny-black goo flickering with insects."
-Christopher Hirst, "The weasel," Independent, May 11, 2002
Etymology
Deliquesce comes from Latin deliquescere, from de-, "down, from, away" + liquescere, "to melt," from liquere, "to be fluid." It is related to liquid and liquor.
So many (slightly) different meanings, all of which are cavorting about in my head....
A Choice of Roads
They stopped at midday, when they reached a fork on the road, a place where the path deliquesced into three branches.
Nerdanel watched Fëanor ponder each choice.
To the left, they would cross gentle hills, alongside a river flowing fast with fresh, cold water.
To the right, they would pass through a town, where there would be grain for their horses, soft beds, and much revelry.
In front of them lay a path that led into the dark mystery of the mountains, brooding like hungry beasts on the horizon.
Fëanor nudged his horse forward. How like him to choose adventure.
~oOo~
Of course, I picked the obscure one ;)
deliquesce \del-ih-KWES\, intransitive verb:
1. To melt away or to disappear as if by melting.
2. (Chemistry) To dissolve gradually and become liquid by attracting and absorbing moisture from the air, as certain salts, acids, and alkalies.
3. To become fluid or soft with age, as certain fungi.
4. To form many small divisions or branches -- used especially of the veins of a leaf.
Examples
"Now it's high summer, the very high point of the high season, and I've just struggled back from Santa Eulalia with the weekly shop, most of which has already deliquesced into an evil-smelling puddle in the back of the car."
-Paul Richardson, "A postcard from Paul Richardson," Independent, August 19, 1996
"His entire countenance seems to deliquesce into a splotch of spreading goo."
-John Simon, "The Underneath," National Review, May 29, 1995
"His indifference toward if not hatred for his mother deliquesced, through the writing of this book, into a recognition of his love for her."
-Leslie Schenk, "Rouge Decante," World Literature Today, June 1, 1996
"The peaches, pears and grapes progressively spot, dimple, crease, wrinkle, acquire brown patches, green bloom, a fuzz of green-grey fungal filaments, deliquesce to a beige-grey Roquefort and finally compost to a browny-black goo flickering with insects."
-Christopher Hirst, "The weasel," Independent, May 11, 2002
Etymology
Deliquesce comes from Latin deliquescere, from de-, "down, from, away" + liquescere, "to melt," from liquere, "to be fluid." It is related to liquid and liquor.
So many (slightly) different meanings, all of which are cavorting about in my head....
A Choice of Roads
They stopped at midday, when they reached a fork on the road, a place where the path deliquesced into three branches.
Nerdanel watched Fëanor ponder each choice.
To the left, they would cross gentle hills, alongside a river flowing fast with fresh, cold water.
To the right, they would pass through a town, where there would be grain for their horses, soft beds, and much revelry.
In front of them lay a path that led into the dark mystery of the mountains, brooding like hungry beasts on the horizon.
Fëanor nudged his horse forward. How like him to choose adventure.
~oOo~
Of course, I picked the obscure one ;)
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-21 01:13 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-21 03:07 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-21 03:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-21 03:13 am (UTC)Not sure how I'm making my point that Feanor belongs in the Appalachians and not just displaying a bit of regional pride but.... :-/
And Meadow Mountain sure felt big when I was climbing it!
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-21 03:16 am (UTC)Mountains do tend to feel large when one is climbing them...:)