[f. as prec. + -ATE3.] trans. To aggregate into flocculent masses.
1877. Le Conte, Elem. Geol. (1879), 70, note. The exceptional transparency of limestone waters is due to the property, possessed by lime in a remarkable degree, of flocculating and precipitating clay sediments.
Hence Flocculation, the process of flocculating.
1885. Brewer, in Amer. Jrnl. Sc., Ser. III. XXIX. 4. The flocculation and precipitation of the suspended material is almost equally rapid for several successive dilutions.
