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to heat (glass, earthenware, metals, etc.) to remove or prevent internal stress.
to free from internal stress by heating and gradually cooling.
to toughen or temper.
Biochemistry. to recombine (nucleic acid strands) at low temperature after separating by heat.
to fuse colors onto (a vitreous or metallic surface) by heating.
an act, instance, or product of annealing.
Historical Examples

As it is impossible to roll perfectly true, it is necessary to “draw” these strips, after being softened by annealing.
The Wonder Book of Knowledge Various

The annealing cannot be carried out in air, owing to the tendency to oxidation.
On Laboratory Arts Richard Threlfall

The sheet of glass just ready for the annealing was of the true heavenly azure that Brother Basil had tried in vain to get.
In the Days of the Guild Louise Lamprey

The process is somewhat similar to that employed in annealing glass.
A Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines Andrew Ure

The result of this annealing process will be a smooth surface, fully equal to the brightness of pure copper.’
Chambers’s Edinburgh Journal, No. 426 Various

This latter material is composed of annealing pots broken and ground fine enough to pass readily through a fine riddle.
The Story of the Invention of Steel Pens Henry Bore

The annealing furnaces are of two forms according to the size of the sheets of brass.
A Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines Andrew Ure

In this drawing the artist has represented a workman in the act of soldering or annealing a piece of plate.
The International Monthly, Volume 4, No. 3, October, 1851 Various

In this case it will be found helpful to have recourse to the process of annealing.
Response in the Living and Non-Living Jagadis Chunder Bose

He took them down to the annealing chamber; and then he observed that it was “a nice warm place o’nights.”
Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, No. VII, December 1850, Vol. II Various

verb
to temper or toughen (something) by heat treatment
to subject to or undergo some physical treatment, esp heating, that removes internal stress, crystal defects, and dislocations
(transitive) to toughen or strengthen (the will, determination, etc)
(often foll by out) (physics) to disappear or cause to disappear by a rearrangement of atoms: defects anneal out at different temperatures
noun
an act of annealing
v.

Old English onælan “to set on fire, kindle,” from on- “on” + ælan “to burn, bake,” from Proto-Germanic *ailan, “probably” [Watkins] from PIE *ai- “to burn” (see ash (n.1)); related to Old English æled “fire, firebrand,” Old Norse eldr, Danish ild “fire.” Related: Annealed; annealing.

simulated annealing