[f. SUPERSATURATE v.: see -ATION.] The action of supersaturating or condition of being supersaturated; addition of more than is sufficient for saturation (cf. SATURATION 3).

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1791.  Phil. Trans., LXXXI. 400. By a super-saturation of the medium.

2

1793.  Beddoes, Calculus, 22. A supersaturation of the alkali.

3

1836.  J. M. Gully, Magendie’s Formul. (ed. 2), 116. The supersaturation of the system with iodine … may be known by … the following symptoms.

4

1842.  Parnell, Chem. Anal. (1845), 321. The lead in excess now existing in the solution is precipitated by supersaturation with sulphuretted hydrogen gas.

5

1902.  Encycl. Brit., XXVIII. 568/1.

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  fig.  1802–12.  Bentham, Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827), I. 435. By supersaturation, as well as by inanition, the powers of the mind … may be destroyed.

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