To treat metal with carbon to increase its hardness; the British spelling of carburize.
From carbon + -ise (British suffix meaning 'to make or cause'). This follows British English conventions where American '-ize' becomes '-ise'.
When you carburise steel, you're playing with atomic movement—heating creates spaces in the metal's crystal lattice that carbon atoms rush to fill, like parking spots in a popular lot. This transformation happens at temperatures around 900°C.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.