Emily Dickinson Lexicon

LA'TENT, a. [L. latens, lateo; Gr. ληθω, λανθανω; Heb. לאט, to cover, or rather Ch. לטא, to hide or be hid. Class Ld, No. 1, 11.]

Hid; concealed; secret; not seen; not visible or apparent. We speak of latent motives; latent reasons; latent springs of action. Latent heat, is heat in combination, in distinction from sensible heat; the portion of heat which disappears when a body changes its form from the solid to the liquid, or from the liquid to the aeriform state. – Black.