demulce

English

Etymology

From Latin demulceo (“I soothe”); de + mulceo (“I stroke”).

Verb

demulce (third-person singular simple present demulces, present participle demulcing, simple past and past participle demulced)

1. (transitive) To soothe; to mollify; to pacify; to soften.
   • 1531, Thomas Elyot, edited by Ernest Rhys, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co, published [1907], →OCLC:

     Saturne was eftsones demulced

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “demulce”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Latin

Verb

dēmulcē

1. second-person singular present active imperative of dēmulceō