nictate

English

WOTD – 30 May 2011

To nictate.

Etymology

From (the participle stem of) Latin nictāre (“to wink, blink”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /nɪkˈteɪt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

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Verb

nictate (third-person singular simple present nictates, present participle nictating, simple past and past participle nictated)

1. To wink or blink; (of certain animals) to close the nictating membrane. [from 18th c.]
   • 1909, Frederick Rolfe, Don Renato, Chatto & Windus, published 1963:

     Indignantly interrogated as to whether he himself believed or exercised this abhominable and perabsurd superstition, he very gravely nictated his dexter eyelid. And I nictated mine. And we both laughed.

   • 1955, Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita:

     Gently I pressed my quivering sting along her rolling salty eyeball. ‘Goody-goody,’ she said nictating.

   • 2011, Perry & Wharton, Molecular and Physiological Basis of Nematode Survival, page 113:

     In the absence of stimulation, C. elegans dauers are lethargic and generally immobile but nictate vigorously when disturbed.

Translations

to wink or blink

• Bulgarian: мигам (bg) (migam)
• Finnish: räpyttää, (momentane) räpäyttää (fi), (frequentative) räpytellä (fi)
• Russian: мига́ть (ru) (migátʹ), морга́ть (ru) (morgátʹ)

Anagrams

• entatic, tetanic

Latin

Participle

nictāte

1. vocative masculine singular of nictātus