Ashes consist of the earthy, powder-like matter which remains after the combustion of wood or coal.
Slag is a glassy matter sometimes mingled with the ashes of mineral coal.
Embers are small coals of fire mixed with ashes.
A Cinder is a portion of some animal or vegetable substance reduced, by burning, to the form of a coal. A piece of meat may be burned to a cinder.
Cinis [cineris], ashes. (L.) Hence,
Cineritious, resembling ashes in color; as, the cineritious substance of the brain.
Incinerate, to burn to ashes.
Sparks are small particles of ignited matter emitted from bodies in combustion.
Scintilla, a spark. (L.) Hence,
Scintillate, to emit sparks.
To Bake is to subject a moist substance to a dry heat.
Note.—Soft substances are hardened in baking.
To Roast is to subject a substance, whether moist or dry, to the action of a dry heat.
Note.—We may roast potatoes, coffee, or meat. In metallurgy ores are sometimes roasted for the purpose of driving off the sulphur and other volatile matters with which the ore may happen to be combined.
To Cook is to prepare food by means of heat.
To Fry is to cook a moist substance in a pan without the addition of water.
To Boil is to cook by immersing a substance in boiling water.
To Seethe is to cook by boiling.
Sodden, (past participle of seethe,) cooked by boiling.
To Broil is to cook by placing over burning coals.
To Scorch is to burn so slightly as not essentially to change the texture or chemical composition of a substance.
To Singe is to burn slightly and superficially, as in burning the nap of cloth or the hair of the skin.
To Toast is slightly to scorch by the heat of a fire; as to toast bread or cheese.
To Parch is to render very dry by the action of heat. We may parch corn. The ground may be parched by the heat of the sun. We may be parched with thirst.
To Scald is to affect by the application of hot water.
To Calcine is to reduce by burning to a form resembling that of chalk or burnt lime. Shells and bones may be calcined. (L., calx, lime.)
To Melt is to render liquid by means of heat.
To Thaw is to melt ice, or to soften by heat that which has been frozen.
4. Of the action of Heat on Liquids.
Boiling consists in the formation, by heat, of bubbles filled with vapor.
Ebullition is the action of boiling. (L., ebullio, to boil, from bulla, a bubble.)
To Seethe is to be in a state of ebullition; as, a seething cauldron.
To Simmer is to boil gently.
To Effervesce is to boil without heat, in consequence of a rapid formation and escape of bubbles of gas. (L., ef for ex, forth; and ferveo, to boil.)
5. Of Cold.
COLD is the privation of heat.
Cold is also the sensation caused by the escape of heat from the body.
Cold, (adj.,) having a temperature much below that of our bodies.
Cool, having a temperature slightly below that of our bodies.
Lukewarm, having a temperature equal to that of our bodies. (Spoken of liquids.)
To Freeze, when spoken of water, signifies to pass from a liquid to a solid state, in consequence of the escape of caloric.
To Freeze, when spoken of animals
