Definition of "congeal" [con•geal]

• To solidify by or as if by freezing: "My aim . . . was to take the Hill by storm before . . . opposition to spending cuts congealed” ( David A. Stockman). (verb-intransitive)
• To coagulate; jell. (verb-intransitive)
• To cause to solidify or coagulate or to undergo a process likened to solidification or coagulation. See Synonyms at coagulate. (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.

• "If I insist we eat at the table, Sir is prone – however hungry – to leave his meal to congeal on the plate."
• "When organizations decay, they don't shrink and dry up, they ... congeal."
• "Roasted marrow bones had been allowed to cool for too long, and the marrow had started to congeal."