decrepitate means to roast (a salt or mineral) until it stops crackling in the fire. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 88 out of 100.
decrepitate is pronounced /dɪˈkɹɛpɪteɪt/.
verb
- To roast (a salt or mineral) until it stops crackling in the fire.“so will it come to pass in a pot of salt, although decrepitated; and so also in a pot of Snow.”
- Of salts and minerals, to crackle when heated, indicating a sudden breakdown of their particles.“It is, however, remarkable, that the greater number of bodies which decrepitate, are really anhydrous and fixed, such as sulphate of potash, sulphate of barytes, chloride of sodium, &c.”