anneal

Meaning

Verb

1. 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.
2. To cool glass slowly, to minimize internal stress.
3. (archaic) To burn colors onto a glass or other surface.
4. (ambitransitive) To make a double-stranded nucleic acid by pairing a single strand with a complementary strand.
5. (archaic, figuratively, poetic) To strengthen or harden.

Noun

An act of annealing.

Synonyms

temper

normalize

fire

🔥

toughen

annealing

solidify

stiffen

strengthen

softening

fortify

harden

puddle

Translations

recuire

πυρακτώνω

recocer

temperare

ausglühen

temperar

tempern

stählen

härten

temperen

temperer

recozer

ανοπτώ

anlassen

trempar

Pronounced as (IPA)

/əˈniːl/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: anelen

Inherited from Old English: onǣlan

Cognate with Old English: onāl

Cognate with Old English: āl

Cognate with Icelandic: eldur

Cognate with Swedish: eld

Cognate with Danish: ild

In summary

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”).