Dictionary entry

Intumescence

Webster's Dictionary 1913

In′tu‐mes″cence (?), n. [Cf. F. intumescence.]

1. The act or process of swelling or enlarging; also, the state of being swollen; expansion; tumidity; especially, the swelling up of bodies under the action of heat.

The intumescence of nations. Johnson.

2. Anything swollen or enlarged, as a tumor.