vellicate

American

[vel-i-kayt] / ˈvɛl ɪˌkeɪt /

verb (used with object)

vellicated, vellicating

to pluck; twitch.
to nip, pinch, or the like.
to cause to twitch.

verb (used without object)

vellicated, vellicating

to move with spasmodic convulsions; twitch.

vellicate British

/ ˈvɛlɪˌkeɪt /

verb

rare to twitch, pluck, or pinch

"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

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of vellicate

1595–1605; < Latin vellicātus, past participle of vellicāre, frequentative of vellere to pull, twitch; see -ate ¹

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

vellicated vellicating

A cough, said he, is "a convulsion of the lungs, vellicated by some sharp serosity," and a network is "anything reticulated or decussated, at equal distances, with interstices between the intersections."

From Time Magazine Archive

Xenocles affirmed, that ripe fruit had usually a pleasing, vellicating sapor, and thereby provoked the appetite better than sauces or sweetmeats; for sick men of a vitiated stomach usually recover it by eating fruit.

From Complete Works of Plutarch — Volume 3: Essays and Miscellanies by Plutarch

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023