saturate

Etymology

From Latin saturatus, perfect passive participle of saturare (“to fill full”), from satur (“full”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsætʃəˌreɪt/

Verb

saturate (third-person singular simple present saturates, present participle saturating, simple past and past participle saturated)

1. To cause to become completely penetrated, impregnated, or soaked (especially with a liquid).
   • 1815, in the Annals of Philosophy, volume 6, page 332:

     Suppose, on the contrary, that a piece of charcoal saturated with hydrogen gas is put into a receiver filled with carbonic acid gas, […]

   • Macaulay

     Innumerable flocks and herbs covered that vast expanse of emerald meadow saturated with the moisture of the Atlantic.

   Rain saturated their clothes.

   After walking home in the driving rain, his clothes were saturated.

2. To satisfy the affinity of; to cause a substance to become inert by chemical combination with all that it can hold.

   One can saturate phosphorus with chlorine.

Noun

saturate (plural saturates)

1. (chemistry) Something saturated, especially a saturated fat.
   • 1999, Tom Brody, Nutritional Biochemistry, Academic Press (ISBN 9780121348366), page 363

     Through formation of a double bond, stearic acid (18:0), a saturate, is converted to acid (18:1), a monounsaturate.

   • 1973, Paul Nels Rylander, Fourth Conference on Catalytic Hydrogenation and Analogous Pressure Reactions

     We estimate from Table 4 that the average deuterium content in the saturate is approximately 1.1 when palladium is the catalyst, 1.6 when platinum is the catalyst, and 1.7 when rhodium is the catalyst. If there were only deuterium on the surface, the saturate would average 2 deuteriums.

Adjective

saturate (comparative more saturate, superlative most saturate)

1. Saturated; wet.
   • 1785, William Cowper, “The Task”, page 23:

     The innocent are gay—the lark is gay, / That dries his feathers, saturate with dew, / Beneath the rosy cloud, while yet the beams / Of dayspring overshoot his humble nest.

Further reading

• saturate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• saturate in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• saturate at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• artuates, taurates, tuateras

Verb

saturate

1. second-person plural present indicative of saturare
2. second-person plural imperative of saturare
3. feminine plural of saturato

Verb

saturāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of saturō