anneal

Meanings

Plural: anneals

Verb

bring to a desired consistency, texture, or hardness by a process of gradually heating and cooling
To subject to great heat and then (often slow) cooling, and sometimes reheating and further cooling, for the purpose of rendering less brittle; to temper; to toughen.
To cool glass slowly, to minimize internal stress.
To burn colors onto a glass or other surface.
To make a double-stranded nucleic acid by pairing a single strand with a complementary strand.
To strengthen or harden.
Alternative form of anele (“anoint”).

Noun

An act of annealing.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English anelen, onelen, from Old English onǣlan (“to burn, ignite, set fire to, consume, heat, enlighten, incite, inflame, inspire, kindle”), from Proto-Germanic *ana (“on”) + Proto-Germanic *ailijaną (“to burn”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eydʰ- (“to burn”). The double-N spelling may have arisen by analogy with Latinate verbs like announce, annex, and annul.
The word is related to Old English onāl (“that which is burnt, burning; incense”), Old English āl (“fire, burning”), Icelandic eldur (“fire”), Swedish eld (“fire, flame”), Danish ild (“fire”).

Synonyms

harden, indurate, normalize, ruggedize, temper

Scrabble Score: 6

anneal is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
anneal is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
anneal is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 9

anneal is a valid Words With Friends word