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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

4 entries under this word

Precipitate

Pre-çip'i-tāte, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. PRECIPITATED; p. pr. & vb. n. PRECIPITATING.] [Lat. præcipitare, præcipitatum, from præceps, headlong; It. præcipitare, Sp. precipitar, Fr. précipiter. See PRECIPICE.]

Sense 1. To throw headlong; to cast down from a steep declivity, or precipice, or height.

She and her horse had been precipitated to the pebbled region of the river. W. Irving.

Sense 2. To urge or press with eagerness or violence; to hasten; to hurry rashly.

If they be daring, it may precipitate their designs, and prove dangerous. Bacon.

Her royal benefactor she recalls. Back to his sight precipitates her steps. Glover.

Agitated by these thoughts he precipitated his journey. W. Scott.

Sense 3. To throw down or to the bottom of a vessel, as a substance in solution.

The light vapor of the preceding evening had been precipitated by the cold, and covered all the trees . . . with its fine crystallization. W. Irving.

Pre-cip'i-tāte, v. i.

verbintransitive

Sense 1. To fall headlong. 2. To hasten without preparation. Bacon. 3. To fall to the bottom of a vessel, as sediment, or any substance in solution. Bacon.

Pre-cip'i-tate, a.

adjective

a. [Lat. præcipitatus, p. p. of præcipitare; It. precipitato, Sp. precipitado, Fr. précipité.] 1. Falling, flowing, or rushing, with steep descent. Precipitate the furious torrent flows. Prior.

  1. Headlong; over-hasty; rashly hasty; as, the king was too precipitate in declaring war.
  2. Lacking due deliberation; hurried; hasty; rapid; as, a precipitate measure. “Blinded by the rapidity of our too precipitate course.” Landor.
  3. Terminating speedily in death; hasty; violent; as, a precipitate case of disease. Arbuthnot.

Pre-cip'i-tate, n.

noun

n. [N. Lat. præcipitatum, It. precipitato, Sp. precipitado, Fr. précipité.] (Chem.) A substance which, having been dissolved, is again separated from its solvent, and thrown to the bottom of the vessel, by pouring in another liquor.

Red precipitate, the red oxide or protoxide of mercury, prepared either by heating the nitrate of mercury till it is decomposed, or by heating metallic mercury. Prepared in the latter mode, it is the precipitate per se.