Dictionary

coaptate en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ˌkəʊ̯ˈapt.eɪ̯t/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˌkɐʉ̯ˈɛpt.æɪ̯t/ (New-Zealand)
• /ˌkoːˈa(ː)pʈ.eːʈ/ (India)
• /ˌkoʊ̯ˈæpt.eɪ̯t/ (Canada, General-American)
• /ˌkoˈapt.et/ (Scotland)
• kō′ăpt′āt
• /ˌkəʊ̯ˈæpt.eɪ̯t/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˌkəʉ̯ˈæpt.æɪ̯t/ (Australia)
• /ˌkɐʉ̯ˈæpt.æɪ̯t/ (Australia)

Etymology

Back-formation from coaptation, or borrowed from Late Latin coaptātus, perfect passive participle of coaptō, from co- + aptō (“to fasten”). By surface analysis, coapt + -ate (verbal suffix). First attested in 1645. Doublet of coapt.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To join or attach.
   • Female patients sometimes tell us that another woman enters her body and coaptates herself to it, especially during the act of coitus. 1900, Henry Johns Berkley, A Treatise on Mental Diseases, page 387:
   • It is a metaphor drawn from Carpenters and other Artificers, who by ſeverall joynts do ſo coaptate and fit the parts of their work unto one another,[…]. 1645, Edward Reynolds, Israels prayer […], quoted in OED, London, page 44:

Forms

Deriveds

coaptation

Relateds

coapt