melt down

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melt

(mĕlt)

v. melt·ed, melt·ing, melts

v.intr.

1. To be changed from a solid to a liquid state especially by the application of heat.

2. To dissolve: Sugar melts in water.

3. To disappear or vanish gradually as if by dissolving: The crowd melted away after the rally.

4. To pass or merge imperceptibly into something else: Sea melted into sky along the horizon.

5. To become softened in feeling: Our hearts melted at the child's tears.

6. Obsolete To be overcome or crushed, as by grief, dismay, or fear.

v.tr.

1. To change (a solid) to a liquid state especially by the application of heat.

2. To dissolve: The tide melted our sand castle away.

3. To cause to disappear gradually; disperse.

4. To cause (units) to blend: "Here individuals of all races are melted into a new race of men" (Michel Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur).

5. To soften (someone's feelings); make gentle or tender.

1. A melted solid; a fused mass.

2. The state of being melted.

a. The act or operation of melting.

b. The quantity melted at a single operation or in one period.

4. A usually open sandwich topped with melted cheese: a tuna melt.

Phrasal Verb:

melt down

1. To undergo a meltdown. Used of a nuclear reactor.

2. To undergo a failure or collapse.

3. To become very angry or upset.

[Middle English melten, from Old English meltan; see mel- in Indo-European roots.]

melt′a·bil′i·ty n.

melt′a·ble adj.

melt′er n.

melt′ing·ly adv.

melt′y adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Verb

melt down - reduce or cause to be reduced from a solid to a liquid state, usually by heating; "melt butter"; "melt down gold"; "The wax melted in the sun"

melt, run

fuse - make liquid or plastic by heating; "The storm fused the electric mains"

try, render - melt (fat or lard) in order to separate out impurities; "try the yak butter"; "render fat in a casserole"

dissolve, break up, resolve - cause to go into a solution; "The recipe says that we should dissolve a cup of sugar in two cups of water"

bleed, run - be diffused; "These dyes and colors are guaranteed not to run"

Translations

w>melt down

vt sep → einschmelzen

vi (reactor core) → schmelzen

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

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References in periodicals archive ?

The Three Mile Island Nuclear Generation Station in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania experienced a partial melt down of their nuclear reactor also known as TMI-2.

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Let the cheese from the top half melt down as you pull it.

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Some often result in rockets crashing down, while others result in camera melt down.

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The coastal prefecture of Fukushima has faced a difficult road since a devastating earthquake and tsunami rocked the area in 2011, killing tens of thousands and causing its nuclear reactor to melt down, leaking radiation and rendering the surrounding provinces uninhabitable.

Six Years Later, Fukushima's Radiation Skyrockets

Hopefully customers will stop buying their goods, resulting in a melt down of their profits.