macerate

English

Etymology

From Latin mācerātus, perfect passive participle of mācerō, from Proto-Indo-European *mag-, *mak- (“to knead”), whence make.

Pronunciation

Verb

(UK, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmæs.ə.ɹeɪt/
Audio (Southern England) (file)

Noun

(UK, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmæs.ə.ɹɪt/
Audio (Southern England) (file)

Verb

macerate (third-person singular simple present macerates, present participle macerating, simple past and past participle macerated)

To soften (something) or separate it into pieces by soaking it in a heated or unheated liquid.
(archaic) To make lean; to cause to waste away.
- 2006, David Tibet; Michael Cashmore (lyrics and music), “The Dissolution Of The Boat ‘Millions Of Years’”, in Black Ships Ate the Sky, performed by Current 93:
  Baal scuttles with ten tails
  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,
  Immaculately macerated God.
(obsolete) To subdue the appetite by poor or scanty diet; to mortify.
(obsolete) To mortify the flesh in general.
- 1820, [Charles Robert Maturin], Melmoth the Wanderer: A Tale. , volume I, Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Company, and Hurst, Robinson, and Co., , →OCLC, page 243:
  “My dear child, how are you employed?” I knew the voice of the Superior, and I replied, “My father, I was sleeping.” “And I was macerating myself at the foot of the altar for you, my child,—the scourge is red with my blood.” I returned no answer, for I felt the maceration was better merited by the betrayer than the betrayed.