excorticate

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English

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Etymology

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From Latin ex (out), from cortex, corticis (bark).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ɪkˈskɔː(ɹ)tɪkeɪt/

Verb

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excorticate (third-person singular simple present excorticates, present participle excorticating, simple past and past participle excorticated)

  1. (archaic or obsolete) To strip of bark, shell or skin.
    Synonyms: decorticate, delibrate
    • 1664, J[ohn] E[velyn], Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. [], London: [] Jo[hn] Martyn, and Ja[mes] Allestry, printers to the Royal Society, [], →OCLC, page 69:
      Moſs is to be rubb'd and ſcrap'd off with ſome fit inſtrument of Wood, which may not excorticate the Tree, or with a piece of Hair-cloth after a ſobbing Rain: [...]
    • 1821, John Knowles, An Inquiry Into the Means which Have Been Taken to Preserve the British Navy [] :
      The sap-wood of the excorticated winter-felled timber, kept in piles in his Majesty's yards, has rotted
    • 1842, Albert Smith, “Mr. Ledbury's Adventures at Home and Abroad (Chapter II)”, in Bentley's Miscellany:
      His mouth was dry and parched; his hands red and swollen, and looking about the nails as if he had been excorticating millions of new walnuts.

Derived terms

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References

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