anneal
Plural: anneals
Verb
Verb Forms: annealed, annealing, anneals
- To heat and cool metal or glass to toughen it.
- bring to a desired consistency, texture, or hardness by a process of gradually heating and cooling
- To subject to great heat and then (often slow) cooling, and sometimes reheating and further cooling, for the purpose of rendering less brittle; to temper; to toughen.
- To cool glass slowly, to minimize internal stress.
- To burn colors onto a glass or other surface.
- To make a double-stranded nucleic acid by pairing a single strand with a complementary strand.
- To strengthen or harden.
- Alternative form of anele (“anoint”).
Noun
- An act of annealing.
Examples
- The experience annealed them, strengthening their resolve.
- You must ANNEAL your nerves to withstand the pressure of a close Scrabble game.
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English anelen, onelen, from Old English onǣlan (“to burn, ignite, set fire to, consume, heat, enlighten, incite, inflame, inspire, kindle”), from Proto-Germanic *ana (“on”) + Proto-Germanic *ailijaną (“to burn”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eydʰ- (“to burn”). The double-N spelling may have arisen by analogy with Latinate verbs like announce, annex, and annul.
The word is related to Old English onāl (“that which is burnt, burning; incense”), Old English āl (“fire, burning”), Icelandic eldur (“fire”), Swedish eld (“fire, flame”), Danish ild (“fire”).
Scrabble Score: 6
anneal: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordanneal: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
anneal: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary