Definition of "caseharden" []

• To harden the surface or case of (iron or steel) by high-temperature shallow infusion of carbon followed by quenching. (verb-transitive)
• To make callous or insensitive. (verb-transitive)

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.

• "A Uberti in 44-40 Blue/caseharden Steel, NM, 5 l/2 bbl, Walnut grips."
• "I am persuaded that all valetudinarians are too sedentary, too regular, and too cautious — We should sometimes increase the motion of the machine, to unclog the wheels of life; and now and then take a plunge amidst the waves of excess, in order to caseharden the constitution."
• "The same salt may be used to caseharden wrought iron."