macerate
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
macerate
v 1: separate into constituents by soaking
2: become soft or separate and disintegrate as a result of
excessive soaking; "the tissue macerated in the water"
3: soften, usually by steeping in liquid, and cause to
disintegrate as a result; "macerate peaches"; "the gizzards
macerates the food in the digestive system"
4: cause to grow thin or weak; "The treatment emaciated him"
[syn: {waste}, {emaciate}, {macerate}]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Macerate \Mac"er*ate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Macerated}; p. pr. &
vb. n. {Macerating}.] [L. maceratus, p. p. of macerare to
make soft, weaken, enervate; cf. Gr. ? to knead.]
1. To make lean; to cause to waste away. [Obs. or R.]
--Harvey.
[1913 Webster]
2. To subdue the appetites of by poor and scanty diet; to
mortify. --Baker.
[1913 Webster]
3. To soften by steeping in a liquid, with or without heat;
to wear away or separate the parts of by steeping; as, to
macerate animal or vegetable fiber.
[1913 Webster]
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
73 Moby Thesaurus words for "macerate":
Sanforize, agonize, attenuate, bathe, bloody, brew, chew, claw,
consume, convulse, crucify, crush, douche, drench, drouk, dry up,
emacerate, emaciate, excruciate, flush, harrow, imbrue, imbue,
impale, impregnate, infiltrate, infuse, inject, kill by inches,
lacerate, lancinate, lave, leach, lixiviate, martyr, martyrize,
mash, masticate, parch, percolate, permeate, preshrink, pulp,
pulpify, punish, rack, rinse, rip, saturate, savage, scarify, sear,
seethe, shrink, shrivel, smash, soak, sodden, sop, souse, squash,
steep, thin, torment, torture, wash, waste, waste away, waterlog,
weazen, wither, wizen, wring
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