Also 5 corrisoun, 5–6 corosion. [a. OF. corrosion or ad. L. corrōsiōn-em, n. of action f. corrōdĕre to CORRODE.]
1. The action or process of corroding; the fact or condition of being corroded.
a. Destruction of organic tissue by disease, etc.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 99. Alle scharpe corosivis if þat þei ben brent … her corrisoun [MS. B corosion] is lessid.
1543. Traheron, Vigo’s Chirurg., v. 170. vi. dyseases of the teeth, payne, corosion, [etc.].
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 36. It is … a kinde of poyson: for that it worketh either by Corrosion or by a Secret Malignity.
1799. Med. Jrnl., I. 433. The corrosion of the larger blood vessels.
1882. Med. Temp. Jrnl., No. 52. 178. Ulceration and corrosion of [the stomach].
b. Destruction by chemical action; esp. by the action of acids, rust, etc., upon metal.
1612. Woodall, Surg. Mate, Wks. (1653), 270. Corrosion is calcination, reducing things coagulated, by the corroding spirits of salt, sulphur, wine-vinegar distilled, Aqua fortis, &c. into Calx.
1756–7. trans. Keysler’s Trav. (1700), IV. 234. Green borax or chrysocolla … is nothing else but copper turned into rust by corrosion.
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, II. 285. Etching is the result of a chemical process resulting in corrosion of the metal on which the design has been laid down.
† c. The gradual wasting action of water, currents, etc.; erosion. Obs.
1781. Rennell, in Phil. Trans., LXXI. 97, note. This sand bank being always on the increase, occasions a corrosion of the opposite bank.
2. fig.
a. 1610. Healey, Cebes (1636), 111. It will infect his whole life with a continual corrosion.
1750. Johnson, Rambler, No. 74, ¶ 2. Peevishness … wears out happiness by slow corrosion.
1871. Farrar, Witn. Hist., ii. 57. When the faith of her priests has been eaten away by the long corrosion of unacknowledged doubt.
3. concr. A result or product of corrosion, as rust. rare.
1779. Fordyce, in Phil. Trans., LXX. 34. Arsenic unites with vitriolic, nitrous, and muriatic acids, forming a corrosion or compound not soluble in water.
