intenerate

English

Etymology

Latin intenerō, from tener (“tender”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈtɛnəɹeɪt/

Verb

intenerate (third-person singular simple present intenerates, present participle intenerating, simple past and past participle intenerated)

1. (transitive) To soften; tenderize.
   • 1637, Joseph Hall, The Remedy of Profaneness:

     Fear intenerates the heart.

   • a. 1667, Jeremy Taylor, “Of Growth in Sin”, in The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, new edition, volume IV, London: Longman et al., published 1850:

     So have I seen the little purls of a stream […] intenerate the stubborn pavement.

   • 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, published 1959, →OCLC:

     Unable to resist these intenerating considerations, his regrets, lively at first, melt at last, melt quite away and pass over, softly, into the celebrated conviction that all is well, or at least for the best.

Related terms

• inteneration

Anagrams

• entertaine