salivate

American  

[sal-uh-veyt] / ˈsæl əˌveɪt /

verb (used without object)

salivated, salivating

1. to produce saliva.

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verb (used with object)

salivated, salivating

1. to produce an excessive secretion of saliva in, as by mercurial poisoning.

salivate British  

/ ˈsælɪˌveɪt /

verb

1. (intr) to secrete saliva, esp an excessive amount

2. (tr) to cause (a laboratory animal, etc) to produce saliva, as by the administration of mercury

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Other Word Forms

• salivation noun
• unsalivated adjective
• unsalivating adjective

Etymology

Origin of salivate

1650–60; < Latin salīvātus (past participle of salīvāre to cause to salivate); saliva, -ate ¹

Example Sentences

Among a certain set—particularly the one I grew up around in Manhattan—we salivated over whose name might be tarnished next.

From The Wall Street Journal

Young people constantly pour themselves into digital surveillance systems, giving the managers of those systems a kind of power that would have had 20th-century totalitarians salivating.

From The Wall Street Journal

And I haven’t gotten to the secondary market, where sellers are salivating.

From The Wall Street Journal

It was a comment that has left fat cats like the Dodgers and New York Mets salivating at the possibility of reeling in the baseball equivalent of a great white shark before opening day.

From The Wall Street Journal

I try not to salivate as fresh steam curls up from the pan.

From Literature

Related Words

• froth