quench
/kwɛnt͡ʃ/ verb C1- To satisfy, especially a literal or figurative thirst. · The library quenched her thirst for knowledge.
- To extinguish or put out (as a fire or light).
- To cool rapidly by direct contact with liquid coolant, as a blacksmith quenching hot iron. · The swordsmith quenched the sword in an oil bath so that it wouldn't shatter.
- To terminate or greatly diminish (a chemical reaction) by destroying or deforming the remaining reagents.
- To rapidly change the parameters of a physical system.
- To rapidly terminate the operation of a superconducting electromagnet by causing part or all of the magnet's windings to enter the normal, resistive state. · If someone is pinned against the MRI magnet by a ferromagnetic object, you may need to quench the magnet in order to free them.
He/she/it quenches · Past quenched · Past participle quenched · -ing form quenching
Verb forms
- Base form
- quench
- He/she/it
- quenches
- Past
- quenched
- Past participle
- quenched
- -ing form
- quenching
From the library
AN ANT went to the bank of a river to quench its thirst, and being carried away by the rush of the stream, was on the point of drowning.
When he thought of that rapt light being quenched in her eyes he had an uncomfortable feeling that he was going to assist at murdering something--much the same feeling that came over him when he had to kill a lamb or calf or any other innocent little creature.
Not that Matthew complained, to be sure; he listened to it all with a wordless smile of enjoyment on his face; Marilla permitted the “chatter” until she found herself becoming too interested in it, whereupon she always promptly quenched Anne by a curt command to hold her tongue.
She flashed one indignant glance at Gilbert from eyes whose angry sparkle was swiftly quenched in equally angry tears.
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