nictate

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English

WOTD – 30 May 2011
To nictate.

Etymology

From (the participle stem of) Latin nictāre (“to wink, blink”).

Pronunciation

Verb

nictate (third-person singular simple present nictates, present participle nictating, simple past and past participle nictated)

  1. To wink or blink; (of certain animals) to close the nictating membrane.
    • 1909, Frederick Rolfe, Don Renato, Chatto & Windus, published 1963:
      Indignantly interrogated as to whether he himself believed or exercised this abhominable and perabsurd superstition, he very gravely nictated his dexter eyelid. And I nictated mine. And we both laughed.
    • 1955, Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita:
      Gently I pressed my quivering sting along her rolling salty eyeball. ‘Goody-goody,’ she said nictating.
    • 2011, Perry & Wharton, Molecular and Physiological Basis of Nematode Survival, page 113:
      In the absence of stimulation, C. elegans dauers are lethargic and generally immobile but nictate vigorously when disturbed.

Translations

Anagrams

Latin

Participle

nictāte

  1. vocative masculine singular of nictātus
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