Definition of "anneal" []

• To subject (glass or metal) to a process of heating and slow cooling in order to toughen and reduce brittleness. (verb-transitive)
• To strengthen or harden. (verb-transitive)
• To become strengthened or hardened: "the time she needed for opinion to anneal around her policy” ( Alexander M. Haig, Jr.) (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "(For the record: I pronounce it like the word "anneal", used in glassmaking.)"
• "The Windows.l. 6. 'anneal', i.e. fix the colours by heating the glass."
• "I find that when a neck splits, or the neck won't hold the bullet, it is time to anneal that whole lot."