moltenadj.
/ˈməʊlt(ə)n/, U.S. /ˈmoʊlt(ə)n/ 1. Of metal, tallow, etc.: that has been melted and allowed to solidify again. Of an image, etc.: made by pouring hot liquefied metal into a mould to cool and solidify. Cf. cast adj.2 8. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > making or becoming liquid > action or process of melting > [adjective] > melted > and re-solidified
moltenc1300
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > metal in specific state or form > [adjective] > molten
moltenc1300
molt1373
melted1660
smelted1750
fire-flowing1820
hot1820
liquated1874
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > metal in specific state or form > [adjective] > cast
yotenOE
welledc1300
yetc1429
casten1493
cast1535
molten1535
well-metalled1644
sand-cast1934
pressure-cast1973
c1300 St. Michael (Laud) 580 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 316 (MED) Þe tempeste is ful strong..þat þei þare weren þere A Mulleston, he scholde al-to-driue þei he of molten bras were.
1428 in J. Raine Vol. Eng. Misc. N. Counties Eng. (1890) 2 (MED) Yai fand certein smale peces multen tyn menged with other metall.
c1475 (c1445) R. Pecock Donet (1921) 124 Ȝe schulen not make blowen goddis or goddis molten bi founders craft.
1526 Pylgrimage of Perfection (de Worde) f. 192v Goddes of metall molten.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Exod. xxxii. 4 They made a molten calf.
1605 in J. Farmiloe & R. Nixseaman Elizabethan Churchwardens' Accts. (1953) 50 A broad peace of molton lead in the vestrye.
a1642 H. Best Farming & Memorandum Bks. (1984) 31 Wee buy our Molten tallowe..of the Hucksters and tripe-wives.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. 462/1 The Rings, or Filets, are the curious molten work and Garnish cast on the out~side the Bell.
1718 M. Prior Solomon on Vanity ii, in Poems Several Occasions (new ed.) 443 His Mystic Form the Artizans of Greece In wounded Stone, or molten Gold, express.
1736 in T. Lediard Life Marlborough III. App. 438 But let their molten Mome of Triumph stand, And blush, tho' Brass, at Marlbro's mighty Hand.
1798 W. Taylor tr. Horace Odes iii. iii, in Monthly Mag. 5 208/2 If thrice by Phœbus' toil re-rose its wall Of molten brass.
1843 C. Dickens Christmas Carol iii. 83 Candied fruits so caked and spotted with molten sugar as to make the coldest lookers-on feel faint.
1860 E. B. Pusey Minor Prophets 379 Graven and molten images, the idols which men adore..shall be their destruction.
1992 P. C. Doherty Prince of Darkness (BNC) 221 He glimpsed the twisted molten remains of the metal water bucket.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > making or becoming liquid > [adjective]
moltena1400
eliquate?a1425
remiss?1440
resolveda1500
liquefacted1598
liquefied1599
fluidified1842
liquated1874
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 22791 (MED) It semis al again kind þan man es molten [a1400 Fairf. rotin] flexs and banes Fra time þat þai be roten [a1400 Fairf. moltin] anes Ha pith and lijf als þai had ar.
tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) ii. 284 (MED) Summe hem [sc. seedlings] kepe Thre nyght in molten donge.
a1500 (?a1390) J. Mirk Festial (Gough) (1905) 84 (MED) Eggys and chese byn molton flesche.
3. Chiefly of metal, glass, and rock: liquefied by the application of heat; in a state of fusion. In later use, also of melted or liquefied foodstuffs.Rarely applied to substances that are liquid at normal temperatures, such as water obtained from melting ice (but see quots. 1600, 1991). Cf. melted adj.1
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > making or becoming liquid > action or process of melting > [adjective] > melted
meltedOE
ymolten1387
moltena1400
rendereda1400
molt1526
rended1558
rinded1581
rindled1601
uncandieda1625
fire-flowing1820
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > materials having undergone process > [adjective] > melted
moltena1400
fusilea1631
melted1660
fused1694
fritted1879
a1400 (c1300) Northern Homily: Serm. on Gospels (Coll. Phys.) in Middle Eng. Dict. at Melten Qua sa nehe wit hend or slefes Hate molten pic, on thaim it cleuis.
c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xiii. 82 (MED) I..wisshed..Þat disshes..Were moltoun [v.rr. molten, molte] led in his maw.
c1450 Siege Thebes (Rawl.) in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1913) 130 271 (MED) They..made þeire defence in casting of stone & wilde fire with brem stone, lede, picche molton.
1495 Trevisa's Bartholomeus De Proprietatibus Rerum (de Worde) vi. 594 It..is specyally founde in ouens as it were dropes of syluer molten.
a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 152 Out of thair throttis thay schot on udder Hett moltin [a1586 meltyne] gold.
1559 P. Morwyng tr. C. Gesner Treasure of Euonymus 67 They say glasen vessels wil abide the fire better and longer, if they be wared, that is, if they be warmed and don ouer twise or thrise with molten wax.
1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. xxi. xxxvi. 413 To tumble..upon the slipperie and glassie yce, and the molten slabbie snow.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 116 Scum that on the molten Silver swims. View more context for this quotation
1774 J. Bryant New Syst. (new ed.) I. 194 Ætna..being a reservoir of molten matter.
1785 W. Cowper Task i. 170 The stream, That, as with molten glass, inlays the vale.
1839 C. Darwin in R. Fitzroy & C. Darwin Narr. Surv. Voy. H.M.S. Adventure & Beagle III. xvi. 356 Large masses of molten matter seem very commonly to be cast out of the igneous vents, in this part of the Cordillera.
1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick cxxiv. 569 The sea was as a crucible of molten gold, that bubblingly leaps with light and heat.
1884 C. G. W. Lock Workshop Receipts 3rd Ser. 249/2 Malleable iron is iron which has been ‘decarburized’..by the action of air upon it in a molten state.
1957 ‘C. S. Forester’ Eng. in October in Holiday Oct. 168/4 A perfect savoury [such as]..an anchovy aigrette (anchovy in molten parmesan cheese).
1991 Mod. Railways Apr. 173/3 When the train is stabled overnight, the molten snow freezes.
2001 P. Barham Sci. Cooking xiii. 220 The small chocolatier usually coats his centres by hand, sometimes by dipping into the molten chocolate, and sometimes using moulds that are first lined with a thin coating of chocolate.
4. figurative.
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1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene ii. vi. 27 How ill did him beseeme in slouthfull sleepe his molten hart to steme And quench the brond of his conceiued ire.
1633 P. Fletcher Poeticall Misc. 86 in Purple Island My molten heart deep plung'd in sad despairs.
1684 J. Harington Grecian Story iii. 196 She..would..Weep forth kind, hasty Show'rs by stealth, as 'twere,..Dropt molten Pearls.
1795 R. Southey Vision Maid of Orleans ii. 71 Often impatiently to quench their thirst Unquenchable, large draughts of molten gold They drink insatiate.
1824 W. S. Landor Imaginary Conversat. I. xiv. 237 He leaves them in the quiet possession of all their moulten arguments.
1871 A. C. Swinburne Tenebræ in Songs before Sunrise 27 In the manifold sound remote, In the molten murmur of song.
1884 F. Harrison Choice Bks. (1886) 253 The molten passion of Burke.
1955 S. Spender Making of Poem ii. vi. 102 The golden Romantic poet..is the magician who..turns all his experience..into molten imagination.
2000 Scootering 5 Mar. 78/1 Exterminator is not a ‘dance’ album in its entirety (notably ‘Accelerator’ with its blistering, huge molten guitar riffs).
5. Designating a type of (esp. chocolate) cake, cookie, etc., which retains a soft, thick, liquid centre after being baked and is typically served warm.
ΚΠ
1991 Daily News (N.Y.) 2 June (City Lights section) 13/3 Chef Jean-George Vongerichten..has opened an informal, East Side-chic restaurant... Don't miss..the molten chocolate cake.
1998 Town Topics (Princeton, N.J.) 28 Oct. 30/1 Such super desserts as warm chocolate ‘Molten’ cake (when the cake is cut, the chocolate pours out like lava!).
2019 Courier Mail (Austral.) (Nexis) 2 July 40 Molten cookies..[are] easily achieved by adding a scoop of frozen ganache to the centre of your cookie dough before baking.
Compounds
C1.
molten-blue adj.
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1862 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1867) 9 As tho' some sapphire molten-blue Were vein'd and streak'd with dusk-deep lazuli.
molten-crystal adj.
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1950 D. Gascoyne Vagrant 27 Moulting molten-crystal plumes of birds of paradise.
molten-golden adj.
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1849 E. A. Poe Bells in Sartain's Union Mag. Nov. 304/1 From the molten-golden notes,..What a liquid ditty floats.
1855 E. Bulwer-Lytton Clytemnestra & Other Poems 313 In the molten-golden moonlight..We watch'd the fire-fly rise and swim.
1870 S. H. Whitman Portrait in Poems (1879) 196 I..have heard the chiming Of far-off mellow bells on the keen air, And felt their molten-golden music timing.
C2.
molten grease n. Veterinary Medicine (now historical) a disorder of horses (supposedly) characterized by excretion of fat with the faeces.
ΚΠ
1607 G. Markham Cavelarice iii. 40 It also purgeth the stomacke, and intralls of all molten grease.]
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Molten Grease, a Disease in Horses.
1753 J. Bartlet Gentleman's Farriery xviii. 157 By molten-grease is meant a fat or oily discharge with the dung, and arises from a colliquation or melting down of the fat of the horse's body, by violent exercise in very hot weather.
1830 ‘J. Hinds’ Osmer's Treat. Horse (ed. 5) Index 265 Molten grease, how caused.
1853 H. Stephens Farmer's Guide I. 312/2 Fat horses, when unaccustomed to exercise, are liable to molten grease.
1924 F. Smith Early Hist. Vet. Lit. II. 74 He [sc. Bartlet] goes back to the ‘molten grease’ of the dark ages.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.c1300