villicate

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Verb

villicate (third-person singular simple present villicates, present participle villicating, simple past and past participle villicated)

1. (obsolete) To do damage (to).
   • 1684–1685, Plutarch, translated by Matthew Morgan et al., Plutarch's Morals - Volume 3, John Gellibrand, translation of original in Ancient Greek, page 460:

     But our Baths now inflame, villicate and distress ; and the Air which we draw, is a Mixture of Air and Water, disturbs the whole Body, tosses and displaces every Atom, till we quench the fiery Particles, and allay their Heat.

   • 1756, “The Gout”, in The Gentleman's Magazine (London, England), volume 26, page 584:

     Thro' all my inmost nerves, like lightning, darts Her baleful shafts, and kills without a wound : With tort'ring rack thrice villicates my foe, With hideous accent thrice I scream, and feel Her whole divinity enrag'd within.

   • 1763, An Essay on the Effects of Opium. Considered as a poison, page 31:

     Now, that the Poison cannot be attributed to the Resin it contains, as this Author asserts throughout his Treatise, appears to me manifest; for upon an Analysis, the Power of Action consists in a volatile Salt, minutely blended with a corrosive Oil; which being expanded over the whole Stomach, villicates and inflames the nervous Membrane thereof, communicating her Affects to the Brain, even to the Destruction of Life ; unless overcome by Art.

Anagrams

• levitical