Dictionary

latibulize en · VERB

Etymology

From Latin latibulum (“hiding place”), from latere (“to lie hid”) + -ize.

Meanings

1. (rare) To retire into a den, or hole, and lie dormant in winter.
   • 1802, George Shaw, General Zoology, or Systematic Natural History, vol. 3, part 1, publ. by G. Kearsley, page 11, footnote. When kept in gardens in Italy and Germany, it is observed to latibulize in October, and to reappear in April.
   • Special attention in the analysis of the coast line is paid to estuaries, which are comfortable areas that bears use as a starting point to move to the interior of the island to latibulize and a place where female bears come with cubs (Ovsyanikov, 1995). 2013, N. G. Platonov, I. N. Mordvintsev, V. V. Rozhnov, “The possibility of using high resolution satellite images for detection of marine mammals”, in Biology Bulletin, volume 40, number 2, →DOI, pages 197–205:
   • Grippe got a grip on Col. John Stapp which kept him latibulizing till the ground-hog heralded close of winter, and bluebirds and robins have begun rehearsing their spring symphonies. 1915 February 19, “Kidd's Store”, in The Interior Journal, Stanford, Kentucky, page 1, column 2:
2. (archaic, figuratively, rare) To retreat and lie hidden.
   • Now, sir, two courses are open to you: Without impropriety you might latibulize. 1894 October 27, Jas. W. Coulter, “An Open Letter”, in The Bessemer Indicator., Bessemer, Colorado, page 1, column 7:
   • O, why, like the reptile, did his sorrow not latibulize? 1908, Anson D. Eby, Showers of blessing, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, page 102:
   • […] and we can, with all dignity and politeness, inform them that their services are not required, and that they may, as far as we are concerned, latibulize in the "sound money" party. 1896 October 28, “An Open Letter”, in The Lambertville Record., Lambertville, New Jersey, page 3, column 6, quoting a "Richard Stockton":

Forms

Relateds

hibernate