percolate Hear it!

percolate Definition

per·co·late (pʉr′kə lāt′; also, for n., -lit)

transitive verb -·lat′ed, -·lat′·ing

  1. to pass (a liquid) gradually through small spaces or a porous substance; filter
  2. to drain or ooze through (a porous substance); permeate
  3. to brew (coffee) in a percolator

Etymology: < L percolatus, pp. of percolare, to strain < per, through + colare, to strain: see colander

intransitive verb

    1. to pass or ooze through a porous substance
    2. to spread throughout; permeate
  2. to become active or start bubbling up, as coffee in a percolator

noun

a liquid produced by percolating

percolate Related Forms
per′·co·la′·tion noun
percolate Synonyms

percolate

v.

pass through, pervade, permeate, penetrate, bubble, leach; see also filter 1.

percolate Usage Examples

Object

  • coffee: These calculations confirm the wide potential variation in the caffeine content of filter and percolated coffee as consumed.
  • water: The cave may have been formed by a vaulted layer of rock whose underside was hollowed out by percolating surface water.

Preposition: through

  • soil: These are applied to arable land as fertilizers and inevitably some washes into the river or percolates through the soil and into the aquifer.
  • rock: In both cases the water had just percolated through the rock picking up salts on its way.
  • bed: Losing reaches of rivers - locations in a watercourse where surface water is percolating through the bed of the watercourse into the underlying aquifer.
  • shingle: It was explained how despite the heavy rainfall in March and April the lagoon depended on the high tide to percolate through the shingle.
  • sand: Rainwater percolates through the sands of the Upper Greensand but cannot sink into the clay.

Preposition: into

  • soil: Much depends on whether the water drains off or percolates into the soil.
  • ground: All rainwater is allowed to percolate back into the ground via a graveled parking area.

Modifying Another Word

  • slowly: Espresso Machine, Moka Pot: This should always be a fine grind, the espresso should percolate slowly producing a rich " crema "
  • n't: The hoax apparently had been revealed in France some years before but had n't percolated its way through to English speaking ufologists.
  • not: Thus modern phosphate does not percolate to prehistoric levels.
  • down: This amount of water should percolate down to about 20 cm in normal soil.
  • downwards: The acid was allowed to percolate downwards until it disappeared from sight.
  • also: This provides a much more sporting character and in some ways is surprising that it has not also percolated into at least the ZR.

Noun used with modifier

  • water: When it rains, water percolates through the patio and boxes beneath and is trapped by the membrane.

Followed by an intransitive particle

  • through: All water present in the section where the sample was taken had entered the quarry by percolating through from the surface.
  • down: A clay sub strata under the topsoil prevents rainwater from percolating down into the earth.
  • up: Concern about this has even percolated up into the cabinet.
  • around: A number of idle speculations that percolated around in the back of my head.