emulsion
/ɪˈmʌlʃ(ə)n
/noun
1A fine dispersion of minute droplets of one liquid in another in which it is not soluble or miscible: oil beaten to an emulsion with a half tablespoonful of vinegar...
- Liquid polymer emulsions are used for dust control and soil and slope stabilization.
- An oil-in-water emulsion is created by dispersing oil droplets in an aqueous phase.
- This allows the fluorescent microspheres to behave like the aqueous droplets in the emulsion.
1.1A fine dispersion of one liquid or pureed food substance in another: ravioli with pea and ginger emulsion...
- The tantalising luncheon menu featured a starter of lemon infused monkfish brochette with a bell pepper emulsion followed by a consomme of chicken raviolis.
- Once the egg emulsion is at the proper temperature, add hot milk to egg mixture, 1/8 of a cup at a time.
- Such was the case with a recent special in which morel caps were stuffed with chicken mousse and served in an emulsion of foie gras and truffle juice.
2 (also emulsion paint) [mass noun] British A type of paint used for walls, consisting of pigment bound in a synthetic resin which forms an emulsion with water: three coats of white emulsion...
- We also went to the DIY store for garden stuff and for a big bucket of white emulsion paint to brighten up the walls in Graham's workshop.
- Paint the tip with matt white emulsion paint and allow to dry.
- The number had been daubed on the wall in off-white emulsion paint next to the boarded up front door.
2.1A light-sensitive coating for photographic films and plates, containing crystals of a silver compound dispersed in a medium such as gelatin.The silver halide crystals in a photographic emulsion are not perfect....
- To make today's platinum prints, a photographer mixes the emulsion from platinum, gelatin and other ingredients, then hand coats a piece of fine art paper with the mixture.
- He describes it as a universal developer for modern film emulsions used under diverse conditions, easy to use, and designed to achieve maximum image stain and minimum general stain.
verb [with object] British informal
Paint with emulsion: if the lining paper is not opaque, the wall should also be emulsioned...
- If you've just spent time emulsioning your space in vogueish shades of cappuccino and hessian and are bewildered by this new passion for all things aquatic, blame him!
- It is an honour to live in Morningside, as the man who emulsioned our hall pointed out when I moved here.
- In this exalted strata of society, remuneration would presumably be along the lines of: ‘If you cure my backache, I'll emulsion your hallway on my day off.’
Derivatives
emulsive
/ adjective ...- Now that American academia has become even more blandly emulsive and conflict-free in the self-censoring aftermath of 9 / 11, his admirable candor and abrasiveness are already beginning to sound like the remote echo of another world.
- Eventually he succeeded in isolating the ‘emulsive material of the liver’, found it to be similar to starch, and listed its properties in an account so complete as to be valid to this day.
Origin
Early 17th century (denoting a milky liquid made by crushing almonds in water): from modern Latin emulsio(n-), from the verb emulgere 'milk out', from e- (variant of ex-) 'out' + mulgere 'to milk'.
Nowadays we tend to think of it mainly as a household paint for walls and ceilings, whose name comes from the scientific sense of ‘a fine dispersion of minute droplets of one liquid in another’, but emulsion was originally a milky liquid made by crushing almonds in water. Its root is the Latin word mulgere ‘to milk’.