Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DEF-LA-GRA'TION, n.

A kindling or setting fire to a substance; burning; combustion. The strength of spirit is proved by deflagration. – Encyc. A rapid combustion of a mixture, attended with much evolution of flame and vapor, as of niter and charcoal. – Cyc. This term is also applied to the rapid combustion of metals by galvanism.