personate

See also: persónate

English

Etymology 1

From Latin persōnātus.

Verb

personate (third-person singular simple present personates, present participle personating, simple past and past participle personated)

1. (transitive) To fraudulently portray another person; to impersonate.
   • 1873, William Lucas Collins, chapter IV, in Plautus and Terence, page 67:

     But this latter has, at the suggestion of Tyndarus, exchanged clothes with him, and the slave […] personates the master.

2. (transitive) To portray a character (as in a play); to act.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter I, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book IV:

     The antients would certainly have invoked the goddess Flora for this purpose, and it would have been no difficulty for their priests, or politicians to have persuaded the people of the real presence of the deity, though a plain mortal had personated her and performed her office.

3. (transitive) To attribute personal characteristics to something; to personify.
   • c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     One do I personate of Timon's frame , Whom Fortune with her iv'ry hand wafts to her

   • 1616, Henry Spelman, De Non Temerandis Ecclesijs [Churches Not to Be Violated]. A Tract of the Rights and Respect Due unto Churches. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Iohn Beale, →OCLC, page 11:

     Therfore though Leuy receiued tithes aftervvard, by a particular grant from GOD, for the time: yet novv he paide them generally vvith the congregation, in the loines of Abram vnto the Prieſthood of Chriſt, heere perſonated by Melchiſedeck: […]

4. (transitive) To set forth in an unreal character; to disguise; to mask.
   • 1644, J[ohn] M[ilton], The Doctrine or Discipline of Divorce: […], 2nd edition, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, book:

     a personated mate

Conjugation

Conjugation of personate

infinitive	(to) personate
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	personate	personated
2nd-person singular	personate, personatest†	personated, personatedst†
3rd-person singular	personates, personateth†	personated
plural	personate
subjunctive	personate	personated
imperative	personate	—
participles	personating	personated

^†Archaic or obsolete.

Related terms

• personation
• personative
• personator

Adjective

personate (not comparable)

1. (botany, now uncommon) Having the throat of a corolla nearly closed by a projection of the base of the lower lip (in a way reminiscent of a mask), as in the flower of the snapdragon.
   • 1881, Journal of the Northampton Natural History Society and Field Club, page 248:

     This arrangement is well typified in plants with a personate corolla, such as the toad-flax and snap-dragon, ...

   • 1887, Jonathan Periam, The American Encyclopedia of Agriculture: A Treasury of Useful Information for the Farm and Household, page 946:

     […] the commencement of the tube of a personate or labiate flower.

   • 1899, Eliphalet Williams Hervey, Observations on the Colors of Flowers, page 90:

     Bumble bees are a sturdy race of insects, made to crowd, push, probe, and burrow; therefore they prefer a tubular or bell-shaped flower that they can enter, or a personate or papilionaceous flower that they can force, or a tubular ...

   • 2011, Katherine Dunster, Dictionary of Natural Resource Management, UBC Press, →ISBN, page 230:

     Botanically, the palate is a rounded prominence on the lower lip, closing or nearly closing the throat of a personate flower.

Etymology 2

From Latin personō (“cry out”).

Verb

personate (third-person singular simple present personates, present participle personating, simple past and past participle personated)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To celebrate loudly; to extol, to praise.
   • c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], page 261, column 2:

     I vvill drop in his vvay ſome obſcure Epiſtles of loue, vvherein by the colour of his beard, the ſhape of his legge, the manner of his gate, the expreſſure of his eye, forehead, and complection, he ſhall finde himſelfe moſt feelingly perſonated.

   • 1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 4:

     In fable, hymn, or song so personating / Their gods ridiculous.

Anagrams

• Esperanto

Latin

Verb

personāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of personō

Spanish

Verb

personate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of personarse