PERCOLATE

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does percolate mean? 

• PERCOLATE (noun)
  The noun PERCOLATE has 1 sense:

1. the product of percolation

  Familiarity information: PERCOLATE used as a noun is very rare.

• PERCOLATE (verb)
  The verb PERCOLATE has 6 senses:

1. permeate or penetrate gradually

2. spread gradually

3. prepare in a percolator

4. cause (a solvent) to pass through a permeable substance in order to extract a soluble constituent

5. pass through

6. gain or regain energy

  Familiarity information: PERCOLATE used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PERCOLATE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The product of percolation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("percolate" is a kind of...):

filtrate (the product of filtration; a gas or liquid that has been passed through a filter)

Derivation:

percolate (cause (a solvent) to pass through a permeable substance in order to extract a soluble constituent)

percolate (prepare in a percolator)

percolate (spread gradually)

percolate (permeate or penetrate gradually)

• PERCOLATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they percolate    ... he / she / it percolates   
Past simple: percolated   
Past participle: percolated   
-ing form: percolating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Permeate or penetrate gradually

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

leach; percolate

Context example:

the fertilizer leached into the ground

Hypernyms (to "percolate" is one way to...):

dribble; filter; trickle (run or flow slowly, as in drops or in an unsteady stream)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Derivation:

percolate (the product of percolation)

percolation (the slow passage of a liquid through a filtering medium)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Spread gradually

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Context example:

Light percolated into our house in the morning

Hypernyms (to "percolate" is one way to...):

diffuse; fan out; spread; spread out (move outward)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Derivation:

percolate (the product of percolation)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Prepare in a percolator

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

percolate coffee

Hypernyms (to "percolate" is one way to...):

percolate (cause (a solvent) to pass through a permeable substance in order to extract a soluble constituent)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

percolate (the product of percolation)

percolation (the filtration of a liquid for extraction or purification)

percolation (the act of making coffee in a percolator)

percolation (the slow passage of a liquid through a filtering medium)

percolator (a coffeepot in which boiling water ascends through a central tube and filters back down through a basket of ground coffee beans)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Cause (a solvent) to pass through a permeable substance in order to extract a soluble constituent

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Cause:

filter; percolate; permeate; sink in (pass through)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "percolate"):

percolate (prepare in a percolator)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

percolate (the product of percolation)

percolation (the filtration of a liquid for extraction or purification)

percolation (the slow passage of a liquid through a filtering medium)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Pass through

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

filter; percolate; permeate; sink in

Context example:

Water permeates sand easily

Hypernyms (to "percolate" is one way to...):

penetrate; perforate (pass into or through, often by overcoming resistance)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "percolate"):

infiltrate (pass into or through by filtering or permeating)

infiltrate (cause (a liquid) to enter by penetrating the interstices)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Derivation:

percolation (the slow passage of a liquid through a filtering medium)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Gain or regain energy

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

gain vigor; percolate; perk; perk up; pick up

Context example:

I picked up after a nap

Hypernyms (to "percolate" is one way to...):

convalesce; recover; recuperate (get over an illness or shock)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

 Context examples 

Once the water has percolated through the subsoil, it trickles down the mountain slopes to, eventually, feed the rivers and springs.

(Researchers demonstrate that Sierra Nevada is home to the oldest underground water recharge system in Europe, University of Granada)

The loose interior also allows water from the ocean to percolate deep down, where it heats up, then rises, interacting chemically with the rocks.

(Powering Saturn's Active Ocean Moon, NASA)

When administered intrathecally, indium In 111 pentetate percolates up the spinal canal with the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to the basal cisterns of the posterior and middle cranial fossas.

(Indium In 111 Pentetate, NCI Thesaurus)

As the water percolates from the surface through the soil and rock layers of the cave, the chemistry of the precipitation changes in a way that is primarily dependent on the amount of water flowing through the cave system.

(Cave stalagmites reveal India’s rainfall secrets, SciDev.Net)

He leaned his head back and closed his eyes; and like a child, crying, that forgets its grief in watching the sunlight percolate through the tear-dimmed films over the pupils, so Martin forgot his sickness, the presence of Ruth, everything, in watching the masses of vegetation, shot through hotly with sunshine that took form and blazed against this background of his eyelids.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Geoscientists have discovered the first direct evidence that material from deep within Earth's mantle transition zone - a layer rich in water, crystals and melted rock - can percolate to the surface to form volcanoes.

(Scientists discover a new way volcanoes form, NSF)

Some were condensing air into a dry tangible substance, by extracting the nitre, and letting the aqueous or fluid particles percolate; others softening marble, for pillows and pin-cushions; others petrifying the hoofs of a living horse, to preserve them from foundering.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

As a stalagmite grows, it records the chemistry of the water that has percolated from the surface to the cave (ceiling) and which ultimately drips on to the stalagmite, says Elli Ronay, study researcher from the department of earth and environmental sciences, Vanderbilt University, US.

(Cave stalagmites reveal India’s rainfall secrets, SciDev.Net)