*process*

. (Metal.) A process of extracting gold or silver by treating the ore in a revolving barrel, or drum, with mercury, chlorine, cyanide solution, or other reagent. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. (Iron Metal.) A Bessemer or open-hearth steel-making process in which a lining that is basic, or not siliceous, is used, and additions of basic material are made to the molten charge during treatment. Opposed to acid process, above. Called also Thomas process. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. (Iron Metal.) The process of washing molten pig iron by adding iron oxide, proposed by I. Lowthian Bell of England about 1875. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. (Photog.) Any process in which advantage is taken of the fact that prepared bitumen is rendered insoluble by exposure to light, as in photolithography. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. (Metal.) A certain process for producing upon articles of iron or steel an adherent coating of the magnetic oxide of iron (which is not liable to corrosion by air, moisture, or ordinary acids). This is accomplished by producing, by oxidation at about 1600° F. in a closed space, a coating containing more or less of the ferric oxide (Fe2O3) and the subsequent change of this in a reduced atmosphere to the magnetic oxide (Fe2O4). [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. (Photog.) A printing process depending on the effect of light on bichromatized gelatin. Paper coated with a mixture of the gelatin and a pigment is called
carbon paper or
carbon tissue. This is exposed under a negative and the film is transferred from the paper to some other support and developed by washing (the unexposed portions being dissolved away). If the process stops here it is called single transfer; if the image is afterward transferred in order to give an unreversed print, the method is called double transfer. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. A process of separating the substances contained in pulverized ore or the like by depositing the mixture on the surface of a flowing liquid, the substances that are quickly wet readily overcoming the surface tension of the liquid and sinking, the others flowing off in a film or slime on the surface, though, perhaps, having a greater specific gravity than those that sink. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. (Med.) The process of removing moisture from the blast of an iron blast furnace by reducing its temperature so far that it will not remain suspended as vapor in the blast current, but will be deposited as snow in the cooling apparatus. The resultant uniformly dehydrated blast effects great economy in fuel consumption, and promotes regularity of furnace operation, and certainty of furnace control. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

(Metal.) A process of hardening the face of steel, as armor plates, invented by Hayward A. Harvey of New Jersey, consisting in the additional carburizing of the face of a piece of low carbon steel by subjecting it to the action of carbon under long-continued pressure at a very high heat, and then to a violent chilling, as by a spray of cold water. This process gives an armor plate a thick surface of extreme hardness supported by material gradually decreasing in hardness to the unaltered soft steel at the back. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. The processing of information, especially by computers, including the organization, distribution, and frequently the analysis of data and the presentation of results in easily understood form. [ PJC ]

pos>n. (Iron Metal.) (a) A process practiced by Friedrich Krupp, Essen, Germany, for washing pig iron, differing from the Bell process in using manganese as well as iron oxide, and performed in a Pernot furnace. Called also the Bell-Krupp process. (b) A process for the manufacture of steel armor plates, invented or practiced by Krupp, the details of which are secret. It is understood to involve the addition of chromium as well as nickel to the metal, and to include a treatment like that of the Harvey process with unknown variations or additions. The product is mentioned by some authors, as improved Harvey, or Harvey-Krupp armor plate. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

(Copper Metal.) A process by which copper matte is treated by passing through it a blast of air, to oxidize and remove sulphur. It is analogous in apparatus to the Bessemer process for decarbonizing cast iron. So called from Pierre Manhès, a French metallurgist, who invented it. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ after A. A. Markov, Russian mathematician, b. 1856, d. 1922. ] (Statistics) a random process in which the probabilities of states in a series depend only on the properties of the immediately preceding state or the next preceeding state, independent of the path by which the preceding state was reached. It is distinguished from a Markov chain in that the states of a Markov process may be continuous as well as discrete. [ Also spelled Markoff process. ] [ PJC ]

(Photog.) A process, now no longer used, invented by J. N. Niepce, a French chemist, in 1829. It depends upon the action of light in rendering a thin layer of bitumen, with which the plate is coated, insoluble. [ Obsolescent ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

(Metal.) A process of desilverizing argentiferous lead by repeated meltings and skimmings, which concentrate the silver in the molten bath, the final skimmings being nearly pure lad. The processwas invented in 1833 by Hugh Lee Pattinson, an English metallurgist. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

A process for preserving timber and rendering it incombustible by impregnating it successively with solutions of sulphate of iron and calcium chloride in vacuo. -- Payn"ize, v. t. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

n. [ F. procès, L. processus. See Proceed. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The act of proceeding; continued forward movement; procedure; progress; advance. “Long process of time.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

The thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A series of actions, motions, or occurrences; progressive act or transaction; continuous operation; normal or actual course or procedure; regular proceeding; as, the process of vegetation or decomposition; a chemical process; processes of nature. [ 1913 Webster ]

Tell her the process of Antonio's end. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A statement of events; a narrative. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Anat. & Zool.) Any marked prominence or projecting part, especially of a bone; anapophysis. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Law) The whole course of proceedings in a cause real or personal, civil or criminal, from the beginning to the end of the suit; strictly, the means used for bringing the defendant into court to answer to the action; -- a generic term for writs of the class called judicial. [ 1913 Webster ]

Deacon's process [ from H. Deacon, who introduced it ] (Chem.), a method of obtaining chlorine gas by passing hydrochloric acid gas over heated slag which has been previously saturated with a solution of some metallic salt, as sulphate of copper. --
Final process (Practice), a writ of execution in an action at law. Burrill. --
In process, in the condition of advance, accomplishment, transaction, or the like; begun, and not completed. --
Jury process (Law), the process by which a jury is summoned in a cause, and by which their attendance is enforced. Burrill. --
Leblanc's process (Chem.), the process of manufacturing soda by treating salt with sulphuric acid, reducing the sodium sulphate so formed to sodium sulphide by roasting with charcoal, and converting the sodium sulphide to sodium carbonate by roasting with lime. --
Mesne process. See under Mesne. --
Process milling, the process of high milling for grinding flour. See under Milling. --
Reversible process (Thermodynamics), any process consisting of a cycle of operations such that the different operations of the cycle can be performed in reverse order with a reversal of their effects. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F., fr. L. processio. See Proceed. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The act of proceeding, moving on, advancing, or issuing; regular, orderly, or ceremonious progress; continuous course. Bp. Pearson. [ 1913 Webster ]

That the procession of their life might be More equable, majestic, pure, and free. Trench. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which is moving onward in an orderly, stately, or solemn manner; a train of persons advancing in order; a ceremonious train; a retinue; as, a procession of mourners; the Lord Mayor's procession. [ 1913 Webster ]

Here comes the townsmen on procession. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Eccl.) An orderly and ceremonial progress of persons, either from the sacristy to the choir, or from the choir around the church, within or without. Shipley. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. pl. (Eccl.) An old term for litanies which were said in procession and not kneeling. Shipley. [ 1913 Webster ]

Procession of the Holy Ghost, a theological term applied to the relation of the Holy Spirit to the Father and the Son, the Eastern Church affirming that the Spirit proceeds from the Father only, and the Western Church that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. Shipley. --
Procession week, a name for Rogation week, when processions were made; Cross-week. Shipley. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. (Law) To ascertain, mark, and establish the boundary lines of, as lands. [ Local, U. S. (North Carolina and Tennessee). ] “To procession the lands of such persons as desire it.” Burrill. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To march in procession. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To honor with a procession. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to a procession; consisting in a procession. [ 1913 Webster ]

The processional services became more frequent. Milman. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. processionnal, LL. processionale. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (R. C. Ch.) A service book relating to ecclesiastical processions. J. Gregory. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A hymn, or other selection, sung during a church procession; as, the processional was the 202d hymn. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who goes or marches in a procession. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. LL. processionarius, F. processionnaire. ] Pertaining to a procession; consisting in processions; as, processionary service. [ 1913 Webster ]

Processionary moth (Zool.), any moth of the genus Cnethocampa, especially Cnethocampa processionea of Europe, whose larvæ make large webs on oak trees, and go out to feed in regular order. They are covered with stinging hairs. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. One who takes part in a procession. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A manual of processions; a processional. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. An officer appointed to procession lands. [ Local, U. S. (North Carolina and Tennessee). ] Burrill. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A proceeding prescribed by statute for ascertaining and fixing the boundaries of land. See 2d Procession. [ Local, U. S. ] Bouvier. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Proceeding; advancing. [ 1913 Webster ]

Because it is language, -- ergo, processive. Coleridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ 1913 Webster ]

. (a) A plate prepared by a mechanical process, esp. a photomechanical process. (b) A very slow photographic plate, giving good contrasts between high lights and shadows, used esp. for making lantern slides. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

See Open-hearth process, etc., under Open. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Metal.) A process (invented about 1899 by Frederick W. Taylor and Maunsel B. White) for giving toughness to self-hardening steels. The steel is heated almost to fusion, cooled to a temperature of from 700° to 850° C. in molten lead, further cooled in oil, reheated to between 370° and 670° C., and cooled in air. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

(Iron Metal.) Same as Basic process, above. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. [ After Elihu Thomson, American inventor. ] A process of electric welding in which heat is developed by a large current passing through the metal. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

[ After M. Triger, French engineer. ] (Engin. & Mining) A method of sinking through water-bearing ground, in which the shaft is lined with tubbing and provided with an air lock, work being proceeded with under air pressure. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. (Law) The process of attachment by garnishment. [ U. S. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

[ From the Washoe district, Nevada. ] The process of treating silver ores by grinding in pans or tubs with the addition of mercury, and sometimes of chemicals such as blue vitriol and salt. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]