defecate

Alternative forms

• defæcate
• defaecate

Etymology

From the participle stem of Latin dēfaecāre (“to purify”), from de- and faex (“dreg, impurity”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛfɪkeɪt/

• Audio (US)

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Verb

defecate (third-person singular simple present defecates, present participle defecating, simple past and past participle defecated)

1. (intransitive) To expel feces from one's bowels.
2. (now rare) To purify, to clean of dregs etc.
   • Boyle

     to defecate the dark and muddy oil of amber

   • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 216894069; The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd corrected and augmented edition, Oxford: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, 1624, OCLC 54573970, (please specify |partition=1, 2, or 3):
     , New York 2001, p.224:

     Some are of opinion that such fat, standing waters make the best beer, and that seething doth defecate it […].

3. (now rare, transitive) To purge; to pass (something) as excrement.

Adjective

defecate (comparative more defecate, superlative most defecate)

1. (obsolete) Freed from pollutants, dregs, lees, etc.; refined; purified.
   • Bates

     Till the soul be defecate from the dregs of sense.

Anagrams

• feceated

Verb

defecate

1. second-person plural present tense and imperative of defecare.

Verb

dēfecāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of dēfecō