madefaction

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin madefactiō, from madefaciō (“to make wet”). See madefy.

Noun

madefaction (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) The act of madefying, or making something wet.
   • 1824, Francis Bacon, The Works of Francis Bacon, W Baynes and Son, London (1824), page 29:

     865. WATER being contiguous with air cooleth it but moisteneth it not except it vapour The cause is for that heat and cold have a virtual transition without communication of substance but moisture not and to all madefaction there is required an imbibition but where the bodies are of such several levity and gravity as they mingle not there can follow no imbibition And therefore oil likewise lieth at the top of the water without commixture and a drop of water running swiftly over a straw or smooth body wetteth not.

References

• “madefaction”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.