Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of drying; the state of being dry.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of drying, or the state of growing dry.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The fact or process of drying; desiccation.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin arefacere.

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Examples

  • Common tombs preserve not beyond powder: a firmer consistence and compage of parts might be expected from arefaction, deep burial, or charcoal.

    Hydriotaphia, or Urn-burial 2007

  • “We have also fair and large baths, of several mixtures, for the cure of diseases, and the restoring of man’s body from arefaction: 1 and others for the confirming of it in strength of sinewes, vital parts, and the very juice and substance of the body.

    Paras 60-91 1909

  • Common tombs preserve not beyond powder: a firmer consistence and compage of parts might be expected from arefaction, deep burial, or charcoal.

    Religio Medici, Hydriotaphia, and the Letter to a Friend 1643

  • “We have also fair and large baths, of several mixtures, for the cure of diseases, and the restoring of man’s body from arefaction; and others for the confirming of it in strength of sinews, vital parts, and the very juice and substance of the body.

    The New Atlantis 2002

  • "We have also fair and large baths, of several mixtures, for the cure of diseases, and the restoring of man's body from arefaction; and others for the confirming of it in strength of sinews, vital parts, and the very juice and substance of the body.

    New Atlantis 1626

  • "We have also fair and large baths, of several mixtures, for the cure of diseases, and the restoring of man's body from arefaction; and others for the confirming of it in strength of sinews, vital parts, and the very juice and substance of the body.

    Ideal Commonwealths Tommaso Campanella 1603

  • "We have also fair and large baths, of several mixtures, for the cure of diseases, and the restoring of man's body from arefaction: and others for the confirming of it in strength of sinewes, vital parts, and the very juice and substance of the body.

    New Atlantis Francis Bacon 1593

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