thickening
    adj 1: accumulating and becoming more intense; "the deepening
           gloom"; "felt a deepening love"; "the thickening dusk"
           [syn: deepening(a), thickening(a)]
    2: becoming more intricate or complex; "a thickening plot"
    n 1: any material used to thicken; "starch is used in cooking as
         a thickening" [syn: thickening, thickener]
    2: any thickened enlargement [syn: node, knob, thickening]
    3: the act of thickening [syn: thickening, inspissation]

Thickening \Thick"en*ing\, n.
   Something put into a liquid or mass to make it thicker.
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Thicken \Thick"en\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Thickened; p. pr. &
   vb. n. Thickening.]
   To make thick (in any sense of the word). Specifically: 
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   (a) To render dense; to inspissate; as, to thicken paint.
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   (b) To make close; to fill up interstices in; as, to thicken
       cloth; to thicken ranks of trees or men.
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   (c) To strengthen; to confirm. [Obs.]
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             And this may to thicken other proofs. --Shak.
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   (d) To make more frequent; as, to thicken blows.
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