etiolate
English edit
Etymology edit
French étioler, from Norman French étieuler, ultimately from Old French estuble (“stubble”), from Latin stupla, from stipula (“straw, stubble”) (English stubble).
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
etiolate (third-person singular simple present etiolates, present participle etiolating, simple past and past participle etiolated)
- To make pale through lack of light, especially of a plant.
- To make pale and sickly-looking.
- 1980, Anthony Burgess, Earthly Powers:
- She was a very lovely woman in her late thirties, in a silk dress of screaming scarlet that would have etiolated a white woman to bled veal.
- 1995, Martin Amis, The information:
- Gwynn and Richard were at the Westway Health and Fitness Centre, surrounded by thirty or forty etiolated drunks: playing snooker.
- (intransitive) To become pale or blanched.
Related terms edit
Translations edit
to make pale through lack of light
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to make a person pale and sickly-looking
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Adjective edit
etiolate (comparative more etiolate, superlative most etiolate)