macerate

verb /ˈmæs.ə.ɹeɪt/

1. To soften (something) or separate it into pieces by (or as if by) soaking it in a heated or unheated liquid.

2. To reduce solids to small pieces (in a macerator).

   Near-synonyms: comminute, crush, pulverize

3. To make lean; to cause to waste away.

   archaic

   Between as many legs as he could carry— Perhaps Thomas poking through the holes And finding resolution beyond the scales And incorporeal pain of the hammered Messiah,

   Baal scuttles with ten tails

4. To subdue the appetite by poor or scanty diet; to mortify.

   obsolete

Where it comes from

First attested in 1534; borrowed from Latin mācerātus, perfect passive participle of mācerō (see -ate (etymology 1, 2 and 3)), from Proto-Indo-European *mag-, *mak- (“to knead”), whence make. Cognate with French macérer.

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry macerate (CC BY-SA 4.0).

← mabinogimachicolation →

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