hardening - Definitions from Dictionary.com

5 results for: hardening

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

hard·en·ing

Audio Help [hahr-dn-ing] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	a material that hardens another, as an alloy added to iron to make steel.

2.	the process of becoming hard or rigid.

[Origin: 1620–30; harden + -ing¹

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
hardening

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

hard·en Audio Help   (här'dn) Pronunciation Key
v.   hard·ened, hard·en·ing, hard·ens

v.   tr.

To make hard or harder.
To enable to withstand physical or mental hardship.
To make unfeeling, unsympathetic, or callous: "To love love and not its meaning hardens the heart in monstrous ways" (Archibald MacLeish).
To make sharp, as in outline.
To protect (nuclear weapons) by surrounding with earth or concrete.

v. intr.

To become hard or harder.
To rise and become stable. Used of prices.
To become inured.

Synonyms: These verbs mean to make resistant to hardship, especially through continued exposure: was hardened to frontier life; is acclimated to the tropical heat; was acclimatized by long hours to overwork; became seasoned to life in prison; toughened by experience.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

hard·en·ing Audio Help (här'dn-ĭng) Pronunciation Key
n.

The act or process of becoming hard or harder.
Something that hardens, as a substance added to iron to yield steel.
Gradual exposure of plants to cold weather.

(Download Now or Buy the Book)

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

hardening
noun
1.	abnormal hardening or thickening of tissue
2.	the process of becoming hard or solid by cooling or drying or crystallization; "the hardening of concrete"; "he tested the set of the glue"
3.	the act of making something harder (firmer or tighter or more compact)

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Hardening

Hard"en\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Hardened; p. pr. & vb. n. Hardening.] [OE. hardnen, hardenen.]

1. To make hard or harder; to make firm or compact; to indurate; as, to harden clay or iron.

2. To accustom by labor or suffering to endure with constancy; to strengthen; to stiffen; to inure; also, to confirm in wickedness or shame; to make unimpressionable. "Harden not your heart." --Ps. xcv. 8.

I would harden myself in sorrow. --Job vi. 10.

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