refrigerant

See also: réfrigérant

English

Etymology

From Latin refrīgerāns, present participle of refrīgerō (“I cool, I refresh”).

Noun

refrigerant (plural refrigerants)

1. A substance used in a heat cycle that undergoes a phase change between gas and liquid to allow the cooling, as in refrigerators, air conditioners, etc.
2. That which makes cool or cold, such as a medicine for allaying the symptoms of fever.
   • 1783, Hugh Blair, Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, Dublin: Whitestone et al., Volume 2, Lecture 32, p. 403,^[1]

     […] never give warning that you are about to be pathetic; and call upon your hearers, as is sometimes done, to follow you in the attempt. This almost never fails to prove a refrigerant to passion.

   • 1869, Oliver Wendell Holmes, “Cinders from the Ashes”, in Pages from an Old Volume of Life‎^[2], Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, published 1883, page 245:

     […] taking a blue and white soda-powder, [she] mingled the same in water, and encouraged me to drink the result. It might be a specific for seasickness, but it was not for home-sickness. The fiz was a mockery, and the saline refrigerant struck a colder chill to my despondent heart.

Translations

substance undergoing phase change

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 製冷劑／制冷剂 (zh) (zhìlěngjì), 冷凍劑／冷冻剂 (zh) (lěngdòngjì), 冷媒 (zh) (lěngméi), 雪種／雪种 (xuězhǒng)

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} koudemiddel
• Finnish: kylmäaine
• French: ^{(please verify)} fluide frigorigène, ^{(please verify)} réfrigérant (fr)
• Georgian: მაცივებელი (macivebeli), მაგრილებელი (magrilebeli), მაცივებელი აგენტი (macivebeli agenṭi), მაგრილებელი აგენტი (magrilebeli agenṭi), სამაცივრო აგენტი (samacivro agenṭi)
• German: ^{(please verify)} Kältemittel
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} fluido refrigerante, ^{(please verify)} refrigerante (it)
• Maori: matū whakamātao
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kjølemedium n

  Nynorsk: kjølemedium n

• Portuguese: ^{(please verify)} fluido refrigerante, ^{(please verify)} gás refrigerante, ^{(please verify)} refrigerante (pt)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} fluido frigorígeno, ^{(please verify)} refrigerante

that which makes cool

• Bulgarian: охладител m (ohladitel)
• Finnish: viilentäjä (generally); kuumelääke (fi) (medicine)
• Maori: matū whakamātao

See also

• coolant

Adjective

refrigerant (comparative more refrigerant, superlative most refrigerant)

1. (obsolete) That cools or freezes; providing relief from heat or fever.
   • 1627, Francis Bacon, Sylua Syluarum: or A Naturall Historie in Ten Centuries, London: William Lee, VIII. Century, p. 204,^[3]

     This Experiment may be transferred vnto the Cure of Gangrenes, either Comming of themselues, or induced by too much Applying of Opiates: Wherein you must beware of Dry Heat, and resort to Things that are Refrigerant, with an Inward Warmth, and Vertue of Cherishing.

   • 1788, John Hawkesworth, “Laudes Dargelli, or, Verses on the Dargle”, in The Poetical Works of John Hawkesworth‎^[4], Dublin, page 25:

     Here on a bank, refrigerant seat,
     Screen’d from the Sun’s o’ercoming heat,
     Some stretch’d at ease the hours employ,
     In Bacchus’s unbounded joy,

   • 1859, Richard Francis Burton, The Lake Regions of Central Equatorial Africa, Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Volume 29, Chapter 2, pp. 54-55,^[5]

     They employ the coco-nut extensively; […] This immoderate use of the fruit is, according to the people, far from wholesome: it is considered, by its refrigerant properties, to cause rheumatic pains […]

   • 1883, Adele Marion Fielde, “兩／两 (líang)”, in A Pronouncing and Defining Dictionary of the Swatow Dialect, Arranged According to Syllables and Tones, Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press, page 350:

     [He] is robust and can safely take refrigerant food.

Catalan

Noun

refrigerant m (plural refrigerants)

1. coolant, refrigerant

Verb

refrigerant

1. gerund of refrigerar

Latin

Verb

refrīgerant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of refrīgerō