ablaqueate

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin ablaqueātus (“loosened, dug up”), past participle of ablaqueō (“to disentangle”), formed from ab- + laqueō (“noose”).

Verb

ablaqueate (third-person singular simple present ablaqueates, present participle ablaqueating, simple past and past participle ablaqueated)

(transitive, obsolete) To lay bare, as the roots of a tree, by loosening or removing soil. [Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the mid 18^th century.]^[1]
- 1847, Thomas Keightley, The Bucolics and Georgics of Virgil:
  After the autumnal equinox they were to be ablaqueated like the vines. Every third year they were to be dunged, and after some years (generally the eighth) to be pruned; for there was an old saying, to wit, eum qui aret olivetum rogare fructum; qui stercoret exorare; qui caedat cogere.

Derived terms

ablaqueation

Translations

to lay bare the roots of a tree

Portuguese: ablaquear (pt)

References

^ Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “ablaqueate”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 5.

Latin

Verb

ablaqueāte

second-person plural present active imperative of ablaqueō

[SOED-1] Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “ablaqueate”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 5.

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