[ad. late L. trītūrātiōn-em, n. of action from trītūrāre to TRITURATE; cf. F. trituration (14th c. in Godef., Compl.).] The action or process of triturating; reduction to fine particles or powder by friction; comminution, pulverization. a. Pharm., Geol., etc.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., IV. vii. 197. A pumice-stone powdered is lighter then one entire,… for … abatement can hardly be avoyded in the Trituration.
1756. C. Lucas, Ess. Waters, I. 46. Earths … are … reduced to the utmost tenuity by trituration or grinding.
1833. Lyell, Princ. Geol., I. I. 2. Disputing … whether sand and pebbles were the result of aqueous trituration.
1872. Yeats, Techn. Hist. Comm., 318. By the continual trituration of the runner, the ore is reduced and amalgamation effected.
b. Phys.: see TRITURATE v. b.
1731. Bailey, vol. II. Trituration, (in Physick) the action of the stomach on the food.
1740. Cheyne, Regimen, 73. Blood Globules, by their Rotundity, Volubility, and Elasticity, resist Trituration, that is, Digestion.
1802. Paley, Nat. Theol., xvi. (1817), 140. Without the trituration of the gizzard; a chicken would have starved upon a heap of corn.
c. transf. A mass produced, or medicine prepared, by trituration.
1890. Billings, Med. Dict., Trituration.… 2. A preparation directed by the U. S. P[harmacopœia]…. T. of elaterin, elaterin 10, saccharum lactis 90; triturate (U. S. P.).
1898. P. Manson, Trop. Diseases, viii. 153. He injected bouillon containing a trituration of one of these flies into a guinea-pig.
d. fig.
1832. I. Taylor, Saturday Even., 344. The royal Image and Superscription by the trituration and corrosion it undergoes in the common world becomes continually less and less distinct.
1856. Merivale, Rom. Emp. (1865), IV. xl. 528. Wealthy nobles … whose means were in process of trituration under the pressure of the imperial imposts.
1909. Edin. Rev., July, 214. This trituration of the people has produced a multitude of dialects.
