Definition of "hydrate" []

• A solid compound containing water molecules combined in a definite ratio as an integral part of the crystal. (noun)
• To rehydrate. (verb-transitive)
• To supply water to (a person, for example) in order to restore or maintain fluid balance: "Cold water is the fastest and safest way to hydrate an ordinary athlete” ( Jane E. Brody). (verb-transitive)
• To become a hydrate. (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.

• "Methane hydrate is essentially frozen natural gas .... there is enough of it just off the North Carolina coast to power the entire country for the next 50 years ...."
• "Methane hydrate is a crystalline solid that consists of methane surrounded by a cage of water molecules."
• "A hydrate is created when a molecule of gas — in this case, methane or natural gas — is trapped by high pressures and low temperatures inside a cage of water molecules."