etiolate
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English [edit]
Etymology [edit]
French étioler, from Norman French étieuler, ultimately from Old French estuble (“stubble”), from Latin stupla, from stipula (“straw, stubble”) (English stubble).
Pronunciation [edit]
Verb [edit]
etiolate (third-person singular simple present etiolates, present participle etiolating, simple past and past participle etiolated)
- To make pale through lack of light, especially of a plant.
- To make pale and sickly-looking.
- 1980, Anthony Burgess, Earthly Powers:
- She was a very lovely woman in her late thirties, in a silk dress of screaming scarlet that would have etiolated a white woman to bled veal.
- 1995, Martin Amis, The information:
- Gwynn and Richard were at the Westway Health and Fitness Centre, surrounded by thirty or forty etiolated drunks: playing snooker.
- 1980, Anthony Burgess, Earthly Powers:
- (intransitive) To become pale or blanched.
Related terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
to make pale through lack of light
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to make a person pale and sickly-looking
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Adjective [edit]
etiolate (comparative more etiolate, superlative most etiolate)
