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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

gestate en · VERB

Pronunciation

  • (Southern-England) audio
  • /d͡ʒɛsˈteɪt/

Etymology

Back-formation from gestation on the basis of -ate (verb-forming suffix).

Meanings

  1. (intransitive) To carry offspring in the uterus from conception to delivery.
    • In the early 1960s, a study was conducted in which gestating rats were given diets containing the same mineral content of mineral salts or amino acid chelates. 2012, H. DeWayne Ashmead, Amino Acid Chelation in Human and Animal Nutrition, CRC Press, →ISBN:
  2. (broadly, intransitive) To develop an idea.
    • Barnett is not currently working on a novel. "Something is gestating in my head," he says, "but I am not yet sure if I have one character or two." 1990 December 9, Walta Borawski, quoting Allen Barnett, “'Unfortunately, Life Has Followed Art...'”, in Gay Community News, volume 18, number 21, page 7:
    • Philip wondered at that five-year gap. Perhaps it simply proved that a work of genius takes longer to gestate than a work of mere competent brilliance. 1986, David Leavitt, The Lost Language of Cranes, paperback edition, Penguin, page 112:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
gestated Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
gestated Tense=Past lexicographic
gestates Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
gestating Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic

Relateds

gestation

Translations (9)

el κυοφορώ (to carry offspring in the uterus) · es gestar (to carry offspring in the uterus) · ca gestar (to develop an idea) · pt gestar (to develop an idea) · cmn 孕育 (to carry offspring in the uterus) · ca gestar (to carry offspring in the uterus) · es gestar (to develop an idea) · it gestare (to carry offspring in the uterus) · pt gestar (to carry offspring in the uterus)