intumesce Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb move upwards in bubbles, as from the effect of heating; also used metaphorically
    bubble up.
    • Gases bubbled up from the earth
    • Marx's ideas have bubbled up in many places in Latin America
  2. verb expand abnormally
    swell up; swell; tumefy; tumesce.
    • The bellies of the starving children are swelling

WordNet

In`tu*mesce" intransitive verb
Etymology
L. intumescere; pref. in- in + tumescere to swell up, incho. fr. tumere to swell. See Tumid.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Intumesced ; present participle & verbal noun Intumescing
Definitions
  1. To enlarge or expand with heat; to swell; specifically, to swell up or bubble up under the action of heat, as before the blowpipe.
    In a higher heat, it intumesces, and melts into a yellowish black mass. Kirwan.

Webster 1913