Masticate

Word of the Day for Monday April 18, 2005

masticate \MAS-tih-kayt\, transitive verb:
1. To grind or crush with or as if with the teeth in preparation for swallowing and digestion; to chew; as, "to masticate food."
2. To crush or knead (rubber, for example) into a pulp.

intransitive verb:
To chew food.

Honestly, folks, the people at the next table ordered the same dish, and I watched as a young couple tried in vain to masticate those fossilized pieces of "toast."
--Pat Bruno, "Hits and misses," Chicago Sun-Times, June 2002

Their powerful jaws allow hyenas to masticate not only flesh and entrails, but bones, horns, and even the teeth of their prey.
--Sam Tauschek, "A Hyena is no laughing matter," Sports Afield, May 2001

In 1820, Thomas Hancock invented a machine that could masticate, mix and soften rubber.
--Rikki Lamba, "Effect of carbon black on dynamic properties," Rubber World, April 1, 2000

At restaurants the Hamnelier (swine server) would bring out your entree, cut your first bite using special tongs and a pig sticker (sorry) and proffer it to your lips. You would sniff, suck, masticate, savor and swallow.
--Baxter Black, "'The Other White Meat' Develops Snob Appeal," Denver Rocky Mountain News, September 20, 1998


Masticate comes from the past participle of Late Latin masticare, "to chew," from Greek mastichan, "to gnash the teeth." The noun form is mastication.
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To knead:


to chew: