Definition of "induration"

induration

/ɪndjʊˈɹeɪʃən/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural indurations
1. Hardness.
  Quotations
  The voice was harder than I had known, and not only in stony reaction to long floods of wholly just selfpity, also roughened with gin and smoke, perhaps also assimilated to New York induration, the hardness of culture as well as of pain.
  1980. Anthony Burgess, Earthly Powers
2. Process of becoming hard.
3. (medicine) Hardening of an area of the body as a reaction to inflammation, hyperemia, or neoplastic infiltration.
4. (medicine) An area or part of the body that has undergone such a reaction. Most often this term is used to describe dermatologic findings.
  Quotations
  Both erythema and induration appear to be adequate indices of tuberculin sensitivity.
  2005. Kimura, et al. "Comparison of erythema and induration as results of tuberculin tests." Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2005;9(8):853-7. PMID 16104630
  The erythema had spread to 20 cm, and the central induration had spread to 9 cm.
  2005. Race, et al. "Painful nodule with induration and spreading erythema." Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings. 2005;18(4):401–404
5. (geology) The quality of non-friability; the extent to which a rock does not crumble; rock strength.
6. (geology) The process of the strengthening of rocks by heating, compaction or cementation, or a combination thereof.