reducentadj.n.
/rᵻˈdjuːsnt/, /rᵻˈdʒuːsnt/, U.S. /rəˈd(j)us(ə)nt/, /riˈd(j)us(ə)nt/ Now rare.
A. adj.† 1. Physiology and Botany. Of a vessel: carrying blood back to the heart, or sap from the leaf towards the root. Also: of or relating to this action. Opposed to adducent adj. 1. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > cell or aggregate tissue > [adjective] > characterized by direction
reducent1691
1691 C. Havers Osteologia Nova ii. 108 They pass by them into the reducent Vessels.
1720 tr. L. Bellini Mech. Acct. Fevers xx. 237 Part of it [sc. bile] will flow through the capillary reducent Veins [L. per capillares venulas reducentes] towards the Heart.
1805 tr. K. L. Willdenow Princ. Bot. & Veg. Physiol. v. 236 The reducent vessels only appear, when the plant is cut at the top, and put inverted in the liquid.
1836 Edinb. Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 46 327 An usual quantity of blood within the vessels of the cerebral and spinal meninges, moving not with natural rapidity, in all probability from diminished reducent power in the veins.
1858 Ohio Cultivator 14 155/2 The returning circulation through the reducent vessels [of the plant] may be regarded as important as the former.
2. That reduces (in various senses); (Chemistry) = reducing adj. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical reactions or processes > [adjective] > of or relating to named chemical reactions or processes > reducing
reductive1684
reducing1741
reducent1822
1822 J. M. Good Study Med. III. 583 A reducent treatment..cannot be laid down as the proper plan to be pursued in general.
1847 London Med. Gaz. 5 710/1 The taking of a dram..tends to retard digestion by impregnating the alimentary mass with liquids, which oppose decomposition, and which present additional obstacles to the reducent action of the stomachic secretions.
1859 Virginia Med. Jrnl. 13 99 Persons brought on a fatal tendency to a tubercular formation in the lungs, by their pertinacious adherence to a course of living too reducent and attenuating.
1898 Denver Med. Times 18 225 The reducent action of the ichthyol on the infiltrated tissues.
1929 Year Bk. Amer. Pharmaceut. Assoc. 1927 & 1928 141 Hexylresorcinol..is unaffected by organic matter under these conditions and is highly penetrating, due to its powerful surface tension reducent properties.
1931 Acta Dermato-venereologica 12 99 The oxidative degeneration takes place..firstly, through the increase of the reducent properties by means of the oxidases.
2000 Jrnl. Geochem. Explor. 71 103 Their characteristics reflect more reducent formation conditions, increasing their capacity to form gold skarms.
B. n.
A thing that reduces (in various senses) or brings about reduction; (Chemistry) = reductant n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical reactions or processes > [noun] > chemical reactions or processes (named) > reduction > reducing agent
reducing agent1816
reducent1829
reducer1854
reductant1924
1829 S. Cooper Good's Study Med. (ed. 3) IV. 623 If we have reason to suspect compression on the brain, copious bleedings, purgatives, and other reducents are imperative.
1861 S. R. Asbury tr. C. Ackermann Christian Element in Plato & Platonic Philos. ii. ii. 120 It operates on thoughts and their expression as an astringent and reducent.
1864 Mining & Smelting Mag. 6 19 A large access of atmospheric air is necessary for the management of this process, and it is aided by the addition of chloride of sodium and other reducents.
1894 C. O. Curtman Lessons Qualitative & Volumetric Chem. Anal. (ed. 4) 174 Oxidation and reduction, takes place between potassium permanganate (chameleon) as oxidizer and oxalic acid or ferrous salts, as reducents.
1939 Amer. Jrnl. Nursing 39 996/2 It contains both soap (a surface tension reducent) and cresol.
2006 Jrnl. Pediatrics 149 55/2 The results are compared with a standard curve obtained from samples of known concentration of uric acid, used as a typical reducent.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1691