# alligatoring

Pronunciation: say "AL-i-gay-ter-ing" /ˈæl.ɪ.ɡeɪ.təɹ.ɪŋ/

## Noun

1. Cracking in a coat of paint that breaks it up into a network of roughly six-sided patches that remain intact.
   - Simple: A pattern of cracks in dried paint that breaks it into many small patches.
   - _Restorers noticed alligatoring across the mural's lower half._
   - _The cheap finish developed alligatoring within a single year._
2. Cracking of the surface bitumen on a built-up roof, or of the coating on a sprayed-foam roof, forming a pattern like an alligator's hide.
   - Simple: A pattern of cracks in the top layer of a flat roof, like an alligator's skin.
   - _The roofing contractor flagged alligatoring along the building's bitumen membrane._
   - _Widespread alligatoring meant the coating needed redoing before winter._
3. A rolling defect in which a metal sheet splits in half along a plane parallel to the rolling surface, opening like an alligator's mouth.
   - Simple: A flaw in rolled metal where the sheet splits open at one end like an open mouth.
   - _Metallurgists traced the alligatoring to flaws in the original billet._
   - _The rolling line produced alligatoring whenever the slab entered too cold._

## Verb

4. Present participle and gerund of alligator. — present participle and gerund of alligator
   - Simple: Present participle of alligator. Use this -ing form for cracking that is happening now.
   - _The old enamel was alligatoring across the car's hood._
   - _Inspectors warned that the roof coating was alligatoring badly._

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/alligatoring (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).