Advertisement

Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

Origin and history of macerate

macerate(v.)

late 15c., "soften and separate by steeping in a fluid," a back-formation from maceration, or else from Latin maceratus, past participle of macerare "to make soft or tender; soften by steeping or soaking;" in transferred sense "to weaken" in body or mind, "to waste away, enervate," which is related to maceria "garden wall," originally "of kneaded clay," probably from PIE *mak-ero-, suffixed form of root *mag- "to knead, fashion, fit," but there are phonetic difficulties. Related: Macerated; macerating.

also from late 15c.

Entries linking to macerate

maceration(n.)

late 15c., "act or process of making lean or thin," from Latin macerationem (nominative maceratio) "a steeping, soaking; a making soft or tender," noun of action from past-participle stem of macerare "to make soft or tender; soften by steeping or soaking;" in transferred sense "to weaken" in body or mind, "to waste away, enervate" (see macerate). Meaning "act or process of almost dissolving by steeping in a fluid" is from 1610s.

*mag-

also *mak-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to knead, fashion, fit." It might form all or part of: amass; among; macerate; magma; make; mason; mass (n.1) "lump, quantity, size;" match (n.2) "one of a pair, an equal;" mingle; mongrel.

It might also be the source of: Greek magis "kneaded mass, cake," mageus "one who kneads, baker;" Latin macerare "soften, make soft, soak, steep;" Lithuanian minkyti "to knead;" Old Church Slavonic mazo "to anoint, smear;" Breton meza "to knead;" Old English macian "to make, form, construct, do," German machen "to make;" Middle Irish maistir "to churn."

    Advertisement

    Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

    Trends of macerate

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

    More to explore

    sweat
    Middle English sweten, from Old English swætan "perspire, excrete moisture from the skin," also "toil, labor, work hard," from Proto-Germanic *swaitjan "to sweat," from the source of sweat (n.). Compare Frisian swette, Dutch zweeten, Danish svede, German schwitzen. The meaning "b
    separate
    early 15c., separaten, transitive, "remove, detach completely; divide (something), sever the connection or association of," from Latin separatus, past participle of separare "to pull apart," from se- "apart" (see secret (n.)) + parare "make ready, prepare" (from PIE root *pere- (
    soak
    Middle English soken, from Old English socian (intransitive) "to soak, to lie in liquid," from Proto-Germanic *sukon (source also of West Flemish soken), possibly from PIE root *seue- (2) "to take liquid" (see sup (v.2)). The Old English word is a secondary form of sucan (past pa
    drench
    c. 1200, "to submerge, sink; drown, kill by drowning," from Old English drencan "give drink to, ply with drink, make drunk; soak, saturate; submerge, drown," causative of drincan "to drink" (see drink (v.)), from Proto-Germanic *drankijan (source also of Old Norse drekkja, Swedis
    soften
    late 14c., softenen, transitive, "mitigate, diminish" sorrow, etc., from soft (adj.) + -en (1). The meaning "make physically soft" is from c. 1400; the intransitive sense of "to become (physically) soft or softer" is attested from early 15c. The earlier verb was soft (v.) "make s
    sop
    Middle English soppe, "something soaked," from Old English sopp- "bread soaked in water, wine, milk, or some other liquid" (in soppcuppe "cup into which sops are put"), from Proto-Germanic *supp-, which is related to Old English verb suppan (see sup (v.2)) and probably reinforced
    douse
    1550s, "to strike, punch," which is perhaps from Middle Dutch dossen "beat forcefully" or a similar Low German word. Meaning "to strike or lower (a sail) in haste" is recorded from 1620s; that of "to extinguish (a light)" is slang from 1785; perhaps influenced by dout (1520s), an
    souse
    late 14c., sousen, "to pickle, steep in vinegar," from Old French sous, souz (adj.) "preserved in salt and vinegar," from Frankish *sultja or some other Germanic source (compare Old Saxon sultia "salt water," Old High German sulza "brine"), from Proto-Germanic *salt- (from PIE ro
    nadir
    late 14c., in astronomy, "imaginary point of the celestial sphere vertically opposite to the zenith of the sun; the inferior pole of the horizon," from Medieval Latin nadir, from Arabic nazir "opposite to," in nazir as-samt, literally "opposite direction," from nazir "opposite" +
    drain
    Middle English dreinen, from Old English dreahnian "to draw off gradually, as a liquid; remove by degrees; strain out," from Proto-Germanic *dreug-, source of drought, dry, giving the English word originally a sense of "to make dry." Figurative meaning of "exhaust" is attested fr

    Share macerate

    Advertisement

    Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

    Trending
    Dictionary entries near macerate
    Advertisement

    Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

    Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.