Concretion

[a. F. concrétion (16th c. in Littré). or ad. (its prototype) L. concrētion-em, n. of action f. concrēscĕre to grow together: see CONCRETE.]

  1.  The action or process of growing together or of uniting in one mass; concrescence, coalescence.

1603.  Holland, Plutarch’s Mor., 672. An egge hath the generation and concretion within the bodie onely of a living creature.

1662.  Stillingfl., Orig. Sacr., III. ii. § 14. The concretion of bodyes by the concourse of these Atoms.

1677.  Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., III. vii. 288. Upon great Mutations of the World perfect Creatures were first ingendred of Concretion.

1802.  Playfair, Illustr. Hutton. Th., 246. These two substances were perfectly soft … at the moment of their concretion.

1829.  Jas. Mill, Anal. Hum. Mind (1869), I. 264. Have we not the idea of a wood, or a forest?… These are instances of the concretion of synchronous ideas.

1830.  Lindley, Nat. Syst. Bot., 130. A cohesion, of the styles, by which their tendency to concretion may be recognised.

  † b.  Formation of morbid concretions (see sense 6) in an animal body. Obs.

1541.  R. Copland, Galyen’s Terap. [They] do crud & make concrecyon in y^e partyes of the bulke or oesophage.

1761.  Brit. Mag., II. 537. Such obstinate concretion and obstruction … as bring on gout.

  2.  Congelation or coagulation of a liquid.

1612.  Woodall, Surg. Mate, Wks. (1653), 269. Concretion is divaporation of humidity in fluid things, by gentle decoction on fire.

1656.  Blount, Glossogr., Concretion, a congealment.

1794.  Sullivan, View Nat., I. 275. Fluids capable of concretion.

1836.  Todd, Cycl. Anat., I. 419/1. The blood’s speedy concretion in debility.

  † 3.  Union or connection with something material or actual. Obs.

1605.  Timme, Quersit., I. xvii. 93. It is … freed from all mortal concretion.

1649.  Jer. Taylor, Gt. Exemp., XV. § 18. If we consider good life in union and concretion with particular … actions of piety.

a. 1652.  J. Smith, Sel. Disc., VI. viii. (1821), 261. The soul … because of her concretion with this mortal body.

1741.  Middleton, Cicero, II. xi. 613. Clear from all mortal concretion.

  † 4.  State or degree of concrescence. Obs.

1606.  Bp. J. King, Serm. (Sept.), 14. Of a strange composition and concretion.

1635.  Swan, Spec. M., v. § 2 (1643), 123. Other starres might also attain to the like luminous concretion.

1794.  J. Hutton, Philos. Light, etc., 31. Diminished in its hardness and concretion.

  5.  quasi-concr. A concrete mass of (anything).

1626.  Bacon, Sylva (1631), § 568. Some plants … being supposed to grow of some Concretion of Slime from the Water.

1697.  Potter, Antiq. Greece, II. xx. (1715), 373. Salt is a Concretion of Sea Water.

1796.  Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 651. A concretion of marine shells.

1886.  H. B. Wheatley, in Antiquary, Feb., 58/2. The pearl is a mere concretion of the carbonate of lime forming the shell.

  fig.  1634.  Jackson, Creed, VII. Wks. VI. 223. That concretion of ceremonial matters.

1677.  Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., II. x. 235. The whole concretion of the City of Gloucester consists partly of … the ancient Borough, partly of accessions.

  6.  concr. A solid mass formed by aggregation and cohesion of particles; a lump, nodule, clot: esp. a. Path. a hard morbid formation in the body, a calculus, stone; b. Geol. a mass formed by aggregation of solid particles, usually around a nucleus; characteristic of certain rocks (cf. CONCRETIONARY).

1646.  Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., 137. Conceiving the stones … to be a Minerall concretion.

1668.  Wilkins, Real Char., II. iii. 6. Stones … to which earthy concretions may be annexed by way of affinity.

1702.  J. Purcell, Cholick (1714), 33. He cut a stony Concretion out of the Liver.

1823.  Lamb, Elia, Ser. I. xi. (1865), 86. Such poor concretions as mankind.

1833.  Brewster, Nat. Magic, xxxiv. 285. Tabasheer … is a silicious concretion found in the joints of the bamboo.

1865.  Page, Handbk. Geol. Terms, s.v., Nodules like those of chert and ironstone … and the grape-like clusters of the magnesian limestone, are termed ‘concretions,’ as formed by a molecular aggregation distinct from crystallisation.

  7.  The action of making, or condition of being, concrete (see CONCRETE a. 5). ? Obs. † In concretion: in the concrete (see CONCRETE a. 5).

1642.  Jer. Taylor, Episc. (1647), 152. In such distinction and subordination & in concretion a Presbyter is sometimes called Sacerdos.

1751.  Harris, Hermes, III. i. (1786), 306. But the Mind surmounts all power of Concretion.

  b.  The result of such action; embodiment in a concrete form; a concrete thing.

1841.  Miall, Nonconf., I. 401. If our national institutions are but so many concretions of the national will.

1856.  Ferrier, Inst. Metaph., 195. All knowledge and all thought are concrete, and deal only with concretions—the concretion of the particular and the universal.