nictate

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English

WOTD – 30 May 2011
To nictate.

Etymology

From (the participle stem of) Latin nictāre (“to wink, blink”).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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  1. To wink or blink; (of certain animals) to close the nictating membrane. [from 18th c.]
    • 1909, Frederick Rolfe, Don Renato, Chatto & Windus 1963:
      Indignantly interrogated as to whether he himself believed or exercised this abhominable and perabsurd superstition, he very gravely nictated his dexter eyelid. And I nictated mine. And we both laughed.
    • 1955, Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita:
      Gently I pressed my quivering sting along her rolling salty eyeball. ‘Goody-goody,’ she said nictating.
    • 2011, Perry & Wharton, Molecular and Physiological Basis of Nematode Survival, p. 113:
      In the absence of stimulation, C. elegans dauers are lethargic and generally immobile but nictate vigorously when disturbed.

Translations

Anagrams

Latin

Participle

(deprecated template usage) nictāte

  1. vocative masculine singular of nictātus
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