percolate

present singular third person percolates · participle present percolating · participle past percolated · past percolated

1. transitiveTo pass a liquid through a porous substance; to filter.First known use 1626

   Fluidextracts are liquid alcoholic preparations of uniform and definite strength, made by percolating drugs with menstrua, and concentrating a portion of the percolate […]

   1926, Joseph Price Remington, Ernest Fullerton Cook, Charles Herbert La Wall, Remington's Practice of Pharmacy

2. intransitiveTo drain or seep through a porous substance.First known use 1684

   Water percolates through sand.

3. transitiveTo make (coffee) in a percolator.

   I'll percolate some coffee.

   1 more example

   Boiled, percolated, pressed, or filtered, black coffee ranges from a light tea-like drink to deep black brew.

   2005, Mark F. Sohn, Appalachian Home Cooking, page 36

4. intransitive(of coffee) to be prepared by percolation; (of a coffee pot) to brew coffee in this way.
5. figurativelyintransitiveTo spread slowly or gradually; to slowly become noticed or realised.First known use c. 1676

   Through media reports it percolated to the surface that the police investigation was profoundly flawed.

   4 more examples

   Reports on the pitiful state of many prisons have finally percolated through to the Home Office, which has promised to look into the situation.

   […] so that quite a perceptible interval of time elapsed before the true dimensions of the affront to his dignity commenced to percolate into the befogged and pain-racked convolutions of his brain.

   1914 October – 1916 July, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Mucker, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., published 31 October 1921, →OCLC

   Some are prepared to pay for placement; others use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) hoping their result percolates up the organic SERP.

   2011, Jaroslav Pokorny, Vaclav Repa, Karel Richta, Wita Wojtkowski, Henry Linger, Chris Barry, Michael Lang, Information Systems Development: Business Systems and Services: Modeling and Development, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 88

   The moves were a TikTokky blend of semaphore and street dance, busy with content. The teen, whose name is Zoi Lerma, has a large following on the network and her dance percolated around the world, with other celebrated TikTokkers adding their own versions.

   2020 November 13, Ludovic Hunter-Tilney, “Benee’s ‘Hey u x’ illustrates the upside of TikTok-dominated pop”, in Financial Times

plural percolates

1. rareA liquid that has been percolated.First known use 1853

   Fluidextracts are liquid alcoholic preparations of uniform and definite strength, made by percolating drugs with menstrua, and concentrating a portion of the percolate […]

   1926, Joseph Price Remington, Ernest Fullerton Cook, Charles Herbert La Wall, Remington's Practice of Pharmacy