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aestivate

[es-tuh-veyt or, esp. British, ee-stuh-]
verb (used without object), aes·ti·vat·ed, aes·ti·vat·ing.
  1. estivate.
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Related formsaes·ti·va·tion, nounaes·ti·va·tor, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for aestivation

Historical Examples

  • Aestivation (summer sleep) is the similar condition in which other species pass periods of heat or drought in warm latitudes.

    Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 4

    Various

  • Of the physiology of aestivation nothing definite appears to have been ascertained.

British Dictionary definitions for aestivation

aestivation

US estivation

noun
  1. the act or condition of aestivating
  2. the arrangement of the parts of a flower bud, esp the sepals and petals
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aestivate

US estivate

verb (intr)
  1. to pass the summer
  2. (of animals such as the lungfish) to pass the summer or dry season in a dormant conditionCompare hibernate
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Derived Formsaestivator or US estivator, noun

Word Origin

C17: from Latin aestīvātus, from aestīvāre to stay during the summer, from aestās summer
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
aestivation in Science

aestivation

[ĕs′tə-vā′shən]
  1. Another spelling of estivation.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.