agglomerateadj.n.
/əˈɡlɒm(ə)rət/, U.S. /əˈɡlɑmərət/ A. adj.
Gathered into or forming a ball or mass; (Botany, of flowers) forming a compact head or cluster but not united (now rare).
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being gathered together > [adjective] > collecting into one mass or body > agglomerated or conglomerated
conglomerate1572
inglomerated1592
conglomerated1656
agglomerated1726
agglomerate1805
clubbed1821
the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > flower or part containing reproductive organs > [adjective] > having particular shape, form, or arrangement
papilionaceous1668
umbellated1682
fistulous1690
umbelliferous1753
umbellate1760
butterfly-shaped1763
starry-eyed1793
umbelled1793
agglomerate1849
macrostylous1857
mesostylous1887
umbelliform1891
1805 J. M. Good tr. Lucretius Nature of Things II. vi. 533 Or, from th' Ethiop-mountains, the bright sun Now full matur'd, with deep-dissolving ray May melt th' agglomerate snows.
1828 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. IV. xlii. 155 They are divided into agglomerate ovaries and branching ovaries.
1849 C. Pridham Mauritius 363 Leaves mucronate, flowers agglomerate, fruit a berry.
1879 G. MacDonald Sir Gibbie III. iv. 73 The sudden dispersion of its [sc. a Scottish congregation's] agglomerate particles.
1906 H. G. Simmons Vascular Plants Flora Ellesmereland 73 The small, agglomerate, reddish flowers at first sight reminded me very much of the latter species.
1922 Jrnl. Royal Anthropol. Inst. 52 46 In all this mass..the more or less agglomerate structure is visible in certain places near the foot.
1979 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 30 Apr. Constantly running into agglomerate sentences like this: As stealthily as a thief in the night whose silent passing leaves a sense of disquiet.., the decade robbed us [etc.].
2001 N.Y. Times 8 Aug. f6/3 Then there is the agglomerate cork, made up of crumbled bits of cork held together by resin or glue.
B. n.
1.
a. Geology. Originally: a rock consisting of a mass of coarse fragments, esp. of lava. In later use: spec. a rock consisting of volcanic bombs and other ejecta, typically welded together by heat. Cf. conglomerate n. 1a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > rock > composite rock > [noun] > agglomerate
agglomerate1818
agglutinate1931
1818 H. M. Williams tr. A. von Humboldt Personal Narr. Trav. III. xii. 448 First granite; then gneiss,..and finally compact limestone, gypsum, and agglomerates [Fr. des aglomérats] containing seashells.
1832 H. T. De la Beche Geol. Man. (ed. 2) 320 The upper portion of the group is formed of gray and oolitic limestones and calcareous agglomerates.
1837 Metropolitan Oct. 225/1 But for the scoriæ and agglomerates of volcanic substances with which it is interspersed,..the scaling the cone at all by mere clambering would be almost impossible.
1882 A. Geikie Text-bk. Geol. iv. 558 Necks of agglomerate and fine tuff abound among the..volcanic regions of Scotland.
1929 G. P. Merrill Minerals from Earth & Sky i. i. Plate 5 (caption) The ash-gray groundmass..is made up of an agglomerate of particles of olivine, enstatite, chromite, nickel-iron, torlite, and schreibersite.
1952 W. J. Miller Introd. Hist. Geol. (ed. 6) xx. 288 Great beds of agglomerate and flows of lava piled upon each other on a sinking earth's surface.
1990 C. Pellant Rocks, Minerals & Fossils 24 Agglomerates occur near and in volcanic craters.
2009 Jrnl. S. Amer. Earth Sci. 27 132/2 The volcanic agglomerates are deformed rocks with a well-developed foliation.
b. An assemblage or structure of particles, grains, etc., which cluster together, and may be partly or wholly fused.
ΚΠ
1829 tr. Dict. Technologique in Gill's Techn. Repos. 5 50 It crystallizes in long hexahedral prisms... it is more generally an agglomerate, formed of a great number of crystals.
1849 Chem. Gaz. 7 61 These crusts were very hard..and presenting upon the surface an agglomerate of minute intimately-adherent crystals, but exhibiting on fracture a radiate structure.
1891 S. P. Thompson tr. A. Guillemin Electr. & Magnetism xii. 505 What was taken for a hailstone, was without doubt an agglomerate of a multitude of grains united together after the fall.
1920 E. Molinari Treat. Gen. & Industr. Inorg. Chem. 419 It is known in various crystalline forms and also in the amorphous state, but in reality the latter variety is an agglomerate of microscopic crystals of the regular system.
1964 L. H. Van Vlack Elements Materials Sci. (ed. 2) 399 (Gloss.) Concrete, agglomerate of an aggregate and a hydraulic cement.
2011 Powder Technol. 209 53/1 In industries such as the pharmaceutical industry, agglomerates are intentionally produced.
2. A collection or mass of things loosely or randomly gathered together.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being gathered together > an assemblage or collection > [noun] > roughly put together
congeriesa1620
agglomeration1751
agglomerate1827
congery1867
1827 A. Lyall Rambles Madeira & Portugal ii. vii. 227 It is an agglomerate of alleys rather than streets—for the most part not three yards wide.
1831 Edinb. Rev. 54 378 A general agglomerate of all facts.
1858 T. Carlyle Hist. Friedrich II of Prussia I. iii. xiii. 303 This Duchy of Cleve, all this fine agglomerate of Duchies.
1906 A. H. Brooks in Geogr. & Geol. Alaska (U.S. Dept. Interior) 36 One traversing the valleys and lowlands only of this central province might describe it as an agglomerate of hills, ridges, and mountains irregularly distributed.
1937 Life 8 Nov. 48/3 The Milky Way..is an agglomerate of some 50 billion stars in the shape of a giant rotating grindstone.
2004 F. Thiele in P. Machamer & G. Wolters Sci., Values, & Objectivity xiii. 258 A grown agglomerate of moral convictions, norms, and recommendations to act.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
agglomeratev.
/əˈɡlɒməreɪt/, U.S. /əˈɡlɑməˌreɪt/ 1. intransitive. Of separate particles or elements: to collect or combine together in a mass or group; to accumulate, cluster; (of a substance) to form a coherent but often unassimilated mass. Also in extended use. Cf. conglomerate v. 4.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being gathered together > gather together [verb (intransitive)] > collect in one mass or body > accumulate > agglomerate or conglomerate
knota1616
agglomerate1632
conglomerate1642
1632 J. Vicars tr. Virgil XII Aeneids ii. 40 My Martiall mates agglomerate [L. adglomerant] to me.
1727 E. Strother tr. P. Hermann Materia Medica II. xiv. 247 Being plac'd in a cold Cellar it [sc. the common Salt] grows and agglomerates together into a whitish Salt.
1790 J. Adams Mod. Voy. I. lxv. 328 The pieces of ice agglomerate to the height of one hundred and fifty feet.
1847 J. Wilson Christopher North I. 257 The heart and the imagination can agglomerate around them.
1869 in Eng. Mech. 7 May 147/3 The heated stratum of air agglomerates to an ‘igneous globe’.
1922 Pop. Sci. Oct. 53/1 Wet pulverized coal suspended in water, when treated with from 30 to 40 per cent as much oil as there is coal substance present, agglomerates into a pasty plastic mass.
1990 Minerals Engin. 3 25 Most products agglomerate at pressures above 50 MPa (500 Bar) therefore a deagglomeration step must be included before the particle size distribution can be measured.
2001 Equipm. Today Mar. 36/3 Another mechanism is the particles themselves actually agglomerate.
2. To gather (separate particles or elements) together into a single mass or group; to collect in an unassimilated or disorderly way; to cluster, heap, or bind together. Cf. conglomerate v. 3.
a. transitive. In physical, esp. scientific, contexts.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being gathered together > gather together [verb (transitive)] > gather in one mass or form lumps > accumulate > agglomerate or conglomerate
coact1578
agglomerate1645
conglomerate1796
1645 A. Ross Medicus Medicatus 33 Though Epicurus and Democritus babbled something of a Deity, yet in holding the world to be casually and rashly agglomerated of small atomes, they were very Atheists.
1684 tr. T. Bonet Guide Pract. Physician vi. 229 The Bloud is eventilated, and the hot particles agglomerated [L. & particulae calidae nimis agglomeratae].
1785 T. Elliot tr. A.-F. de Fourcroy Elem. Lect. Chem. & Nat. Hist. I. xvi. 202 If the evaporation has been very quick, all the crystals agglomerate and blend themselves into the form of a solid crust.
1832 G. R. Porter Treat. Manuf. Porcelain & Glass 169 By this means the particles of glass are agglomerated in a cylindrical form, which is then called by the workmen a paraison.
1858 G. H. Lewes Sea-side Stud. 259/2 One of my Daisies (A. Bellis) brought forth a round mass of fifteen young, agglomerated together into a ball.
1879 G. Gladstone in Cassell's Techn. Educator IV. 18/1 It cannot be put into the furnace without being first agglomerated into lumps.
1921 E. W. Davis Magnetic Concentration Iron 136 It may be necessary to..concentrate two tons of ore, dewater and agglomerate one ton of ore, stockpile one-half ton of ore, and dispose of two tons of tailings.
1964 L. H. Van Vlack Elements Materials Sci. (ed. 2) 406 (Gloss.) Powder metallurgy , the technique of agglomerating metal powders into engineering components.
1999 F. Wynne tr. M. Houellebecq Atomised (2001) 282 From one central knot, tendrils snaked out across the universe, their tips cold and sticky. They wound round, encircled and agglomerated part of space.
2003 Brit. Jrnl. Hist. Sci. 36 46 In such dilatations bodies whose parts have been agglomerated become flattened through a change in the position of their particles.
b. transitive. In immaterial and general contexts.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being gathered together > gather together [verb (transitive)] > gather in one mass or form lumps > accumulate
heapc1000
tassea1400
aggregate?a1425
grossc1440
amass1481
accumulatec1487
accumule1490
exaggerate1533
cumulate1534
compile1578
pook1587
mass1604
hilla1618
congeriate1628
agglomerate1751
pile1827
to roll up1848
1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 108. ⁋5 If we would know the amount of moments we must agglomerate them into days and weeks.
1803 S. Smith in Edinb. Rev. 2 87 To condense and agglomerate every species of absurdity.
1870 F. W. Farrar Families of Speech ii. 60 To agglomerate a number of words without inflection or synthesis.
1933 Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. Oct. 161 Observers..generalize and agglomerate under a few ‘blanket’ epithets the immense complexities and inconsistencies of behaviour.
1987 Nature 22 Oct. 716/1 By agglomerating neighbouring dioceses into geographic areas chosen to correspond as closely as possible to provinces or province clusters, 59 geographic areas were defined.
2002 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 7 Nov. 26/4 Comparatively few poets have been what might be called rhyme-mad—a condition marked by an obsessive urge to disassemble long words and to agglomerate short words.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture of thread or yarn > [verb (transitive)] > wind > in specific way
reelc1400
conglomerate1623
spool1623
sleavea1628
agglomerate1658
skein1775
hank1818
pirn1818
lease1884
cross-reel1890
1658 E. Phillips New World Eng. Words Agglomerate, to rowl up together.
1692 Coles's Eng. Dict. (new ed.) Agglomerate, to rowl together.
1721 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. Agglomerate, to roll or wind up into a bottom. [Also in Johnson and later dicts.]
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.n.1805v.1632