Dictionary

nictate en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /nɪkˈteɪt/ (UK, US)

Etymology

First attested in 1755; borrowed from Latin nictātus, perfect passive participle of nictō (“to wink, blink”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).

Meanings

1. (intransitive) To wink or blink; (of certain animals) to close the nictating membrane.
   • In the absence of stimulation, C. elegans dauers are lethargic and generally immobile but nictate vigorously when disturbed. 2011, Perry & Wharton, Molecular and Physiological Basis of Nematode Survival, page 113:
   • Gently I pressed my quivering sting along her rolling salty eyeball. ‘Goody-goody,’ she said nictating. 1955, Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita:
   • Indignantly interrogated as to whether he himself believed or exercised this abhominable and perabsurd superstition, he very gravely nictated his dexter eyelid. And I nictated mine. And we both laughed. 1909, Frederick Rolfe, Don Renato, Chatto & Windus, published 1963:

Forms

Translations (6)

ru морга́ть (to wink or blink) · fi (momentane) räpäyttää (to wink or blink) · fi räpyttää (to wink or blink) · ru мига́ть (to wink or blink) · fi räpytellä (to wink or blink) · bg мигам (to wink or blink)