quench
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents |
English [edit]
Etymology [edit]
From Old English acwenċan.
Pronunciation [edit]
Verb [edit]
quench (third-person singular simple present quenches, present participle quenching, simple past and past participle quenched)
- (transitive) To satisfy, especially an actual or figurative thirst.
- The library quenched her thirst for knowledge.
- 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4
- I began also to feel very hungry, as not having eaten for twenty-four hours; and worse than that, there was a parching thirst and dryness in my throat, and nothing with which to quench it.
- (transitive) To extinguish or put out (as a fire or light.)
- Then the MacManus went down. The sudden quench of the white light was how I knew it. -- Saul Bellow
- (transitive) To cool rapidly by dipping into a bath of coolant, as a blacksmith quenching hot iron.
- The swordsmith quenched the sword in an oil bath so that it wouldn't shatter.
Translations [edit]
satisfy thirst
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extinguish a flame
cool rapidly by immersion
Noun [edit]
quench (plural quenches)
- (physics) The abnormal termination of operation of a superconducting magnet, occurring when part of the superconducting coil enters the normal (resistive) state.
