The Collaborative International Dictionary
Coacervate \Co`a*cer"vate\, a. [L. coacervatus, p. p. of
coacervare to heap up; co- + acervare. See Acervate.]
Raised into a pile; collected into a crowd; heaped. [R.]
--Bacon.
Coacervate \Co`a*cer"vate\, v. t. To heap up; to pile. [R.]
Wiktionary
a. (context obsolete English) Clumped together, clustered. n. (context chemistry English) The microsphere droplet that result from coacervation
Wikipedia
Coacervation is a unique type of electrostatically-driven liquid-liquid phase separation, resulting from association of oppositely charged macro-ions. The term "coacervate" is sometimes used to refer to spherical aggregates of colloidal droplets held together by hydrophobic forces. Coacervate droplets can measure from 1 to 100 micrometres across, while their soluble precursors, are typically on the order of less than 200 nm. The name "coacervate" derives from the Latin coacervare, meaning "to assemble together or cluster".
The process of coacervation was famously proposed by Alexander Oparin and J. B. S. Haldane as crucial in his early theory of abiogenesis (origin of life/ prozikhozhdenic zhiney). This theory proposes that metabolism predated information replication, although the discussion as to whether metabolism or molecules capable of Template replication came first in the origins of life remains open and for decades the theory of Oparin and Haldane was the leading approach to the origin of life question.
Usage examples of "coacervate".
Hummocks are likewise formed, by pieces of ice mutually crushing each other, the wreck being coacervated upon one or both of them.
Three of them are impregnated with polymer coacervates in the fifteen to twenty-micron range," he said.