refrigerant

refrigerant

See also: réfrigérant

English

Etymology

Latin refrīgerāns, present participle of refrīgerō (“I cool, I refresh”).

Noun

refrigerant (plural refrigerants)

1. A substance used in a heat cycle that undergoes a phase change between gas and liquid to allow the cooling, as in refrigerators, air conditioners, etc.
2. That which makes cool or cold, such as a medicine for allaying the symptoms of fever.
   • 1783, Hugh Blair, Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, Dublin: Whitestone et al., Volume 2, Lecture 32, p. 403,

     […] never give warning that you are about to be pathetic; and call upon your hearers, as is sometimes done, to follow you in the attempt. This almost never fails to prove a refrigerant to passion.

   • 1869, Oliver Wendell Holmes, “Cinders from the Ashes” in Pages from an Old Volume of Life, Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1883, p. 245,

     […] taking a blue and white soda-powder, [she] mingled the same in water, and encouraged me to drink the result. It might be a specific for seasickness, but it was not for home-sickness. The fiz was a mockery, and the saline refrigerant struck a colder chill to my despondent heart.

Translations

substance undergoing phase change

Chinese: Mandarin: 製冷劑／制冷剂 (zhìlěngjì), 冷凍劑／冷冻剂 (zh) (lěngdòngjì), 冷媒 (zh) (lěngméi), 雪種／雪种 (xuězhǒng) Dutch: (please verify) koudemiddel Finnish: kylmäaine French: (please verify) fluide frigorigène, (please verify) réfrigérant (fr) Georgian: მაცივებელი (macivebeli), მაგრილებელი (magrilebeli), მაცივებელი აგენტი (macivebeli agenṭi), მაგრილებელი აგენტი (magrilebeli agenṭi), სამაცივრო აგენტი (samacivro agenṭi) German: (please verify) Kältemittel Italian: (please verify) fluido refrigerante, (please verify) refrigerante (it) Maori: matū whakamātao Norwegian: Bokmål: kjølemedium n Nynorsk: kjølemedium n Portuguese: (please verify) fluido refrigerante, (please verify) gás refrigerante, (please verify) refrigerante (pt) Spanish: (please verify) fluido frigorígeno, (please verify) refrigerante

that which makes cool

Bulgarian: охладител m (ohladitel) Finnish: viilentäjä (generally); kuumelääke (fi) (medicine)

See also

• coolant

Adjective

refrigerant (comparative more refrigerant, superlative most refrigerant)

1. (obsolete) That cools or freezes; providing relief from heat or fever.
   • 1627, Francis Bacon, Sylua Syluarum: or A Naturall Historie in Ten Centuries, London: William Lee, VIII. Century, p. 204,

     This Experiment may be transferred vnto the Cure of Gangrenes, either Comming of themselues, or induced by too much Applying of Opiates: Wherein you must beware of Dry Heat, and resort to Things that are Refrigerant, with an Inward Warmth, and Vertue of Cherishing.

   • 1788, John Hawkesworth, “Laudes Dargelli, or, Verses on the Dargle” in The Poetical Works of John Hawkesworth, Dublin, p. 25,

     Here on a bank, refrigerant seat,

     Screen’d from the Sun’s o’ercoming heat,

     Some stretch’d at ease the hours employ,

     In Bacchus’s unbounded joy,

   • 1859, Richard Francis Burton, The Lake Regions of Central Equatorial Africa, Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Volume 29, Chapter 2, pp. 54-55,

     They employ the coco-nut extensively; […] This immoderate use of the fruit is, according to the people, far from wholesome: it is considered, by its refrigerant properties, to cause rheumatic pains […]

   • 1883, Fielde, Adele Marion, “兩／两 (líang)”, in A Pronouncing and Defining Dictionary of the Swatow Dialect, Arranged According to Syllables and Tones, Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press, page 350:

     [He] is robust and can safely take refrigerant food.

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Catalan

Noun

refrigerant m (plural refrigerants)

1. coolant, refrigerant

Verb

refrigerant

1. present participle of refrigerar

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Latin

Verb

refrīgerant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of refrīgerō