[SUPER- 9 b; after F. sursaturer.] trans. To saturate to excess; to add more of some other substance to (a given substance) than is sufficient to saturate it: chiefly in Chem. and Physics (cf. SATURATE v. 3, 4). Const. with.
1788. Keir, in Phil. Trans., LXXVIII. 325. When the acid has been completely saturated, or perhaps supersaturated, by … alternate evaporation to dryness, and re-dissolution in water.
1794. R. J. Sulivan, View Nat., I. 342. We could have no rain, unless the air were supersaturated with water, as it would part only with what it could not retain in solution.
1807. T. Thomson, Chem. (ed. 3), II. 333. According to him [sc. Macquer], prussian blue is nothing else than iron supersaturated with phlogiston.
1854. F. Bakewell, Geol., 45. The water would become super-saturated, and the salt be deposited.
1857. Livingstone, Trav., xxiv. 475. The plains, which in October and November were well moistened,… now become supersaturated.
1863. Tyndall, Heat, v. 153. The liquid is … supersaturated with sulphate of soda.
refl. 1789. J. Pilkington, View Derbysh., I. vi. 263. Water by a large quantity of calcareous gas will thus in close vessels super-saturate itself with lime.
absol. 1801. Phil. Trans., XCI. 197, note. That chymist supersaturates by nitric acid.
1839–47. Todd’s Cycl. Anat., III. 803/2. Supersaturating with nitric acid, and precipitating by a salt of baryta as usual.
b. fig.
1802–12. Bentham, Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827), V. 264. Saturated as he [sc. Coke] was, and super-saturated, with law learning.
1828. Southey, in Q. Rev., XXXVII. 219. Mr. Hallam, supersaturated as he is with malevolence toward the Anglican church.
1863. R. F. Burton, Abeokuta, II. 95. The members, supersaturated with Exeter Hall influences.
1911. M. Fishberg, Jews, xxiii. 551. The Spanish nation of to-day is supersaturated with ‘Jewish blood,’ derived from the Marranos.
Hence Supersaturating vbl. sb.
1857. Miller, Elem. Chem., Org., i. 22. Its amount may be determined by … filtering, supersaturating with ammonia.
