vellicate

[vel-i-keyt]

verb (used with object)

vellicated, vellicating 

1. to pluck; twitch.

2. to nip, pinch, or the like.

3. to cause to twitch.

verb (used without object)

vellicated, vellicating 

1. to move with spasmodic convulsions; twitch.

vellicate

/ ˈvɛlɪˌkeɪt /

verb

1. rare,  to twitch, pluck, or pinch

Other Word Forms

• vellication noun
• vellicative adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of vellicate¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of vellicate¹

C17: from Latin vellicāre, from vellere to tear off

Example Sentences

Thus, if you vellicate the throat with a feather, nausea is produced; if you wound it with a penknife, pain is induced, but not sickness.

Read more on Project Gutenberg

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.

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Related Words

• bounce 
• bump 
• fling 
• flop 
• hurtle 
• jolt 
• lug 
• snatch 
• thrust 
• tug 
• twitch 
• wiggle 
• wrench 
• wriggle 
• wring 
• yank